52 minutes / Color
Closed Captioned
Release: 2016
Copyright: 2015
They're lurid, obnoxious, disdainful and explicit. And we love them—and love to hate them.
SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! charts the rise and fall of tabloid papers, including the New York Post, The Sun, and notorious supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer and The Star.
In the beginning, they were upstarts. Papers that shamelessly pandered with stories about sex scandals, and celebrities-often skirting ethical lines, and sometimes outright making things up ("Run it through the typewriter again," was one editor's mantra.) But while they may have been distasteful, the tabs outstripped the mainstream media on big stories such as Bill Clinton's sex life, Princess Diana and the O.J. Simpson trial.
SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! features extensive interviews with key tabloid players, including notorious editor Kelvin MacKenzie, and provides an insider's account of the no-holds-barred mentality driving tabloid journalism while also using fun and campy footage mimicking the style of the tabloids themselves.
Today, the heyday of the print tabloids may have passed, but the culture they spawned is everywhere.
"They're lurid, obnoxious, disdainful and explicit. And we love them-and love to hate them. SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! charts the rise and fall of tabloid papers in the UK and US, including the New York Post, The Sun, and notorious supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer and The Star."—Western Psychological Association
"From the rise of the Murdoch empire to News of the World's landmark phone-hacking scandal, this documentary shows how tabloids position populism and youth against the establishment and intellectuals."—Liberation
"Told from the insider perspective… Recommended!"—Video Librarian
Select Accolades
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