Some people will say it’s nothing more than a simple matter of semantics, but I feel that connotation can go a very long way in how a company or brand is perceived by the product. Your choice of words can really determine whether you’ll be a major success or an epic failure.
The reason why I bring this up is that I was surfing my way through the Twittersphere one afternoon and I came across the account for the Province newspaper here in Vancouver. I’ve been reading the Province for a number of years and I recognize that it has a (relatively) lower reading level than the Vancouver Sun, National Post, or Globe and Mail.
In the bio section for the Twitter account, the Province proudly proclaims that it is a tabloid. I asked the person responsible for maintaining the Twitter account about this choice of words and he (or she) said that the newspaper is proud of its tabloid background.
Perhaps I’m alone in this regard, but I don’t have the most favorable of impressions when I hear the word “tabloid.” I think of rag mags on the grocery store shelf. I think of “newspapers” like the National Enquirer. They’re filled with gossip, hearsay, and conjecture, rather than with legitimate investigative journalism and researched opinion.
I’m not saying that they don’t have a place in this society — I actually like the “trash” posted by places like TMZ — but the “tabloid” name comes with some of that unfavorable baggage. I told the Province Twitter user that I thought their paper was more “high brow” than the National Enquirer and they probably shouldn’t use the word “tabloid” in the bio.
He or she agreed that the Province is “a little” higher brow, but they stuck to the traditioin of calling their newspaper a tabloid. I’m not in the newspaper business nor am I too knowledgeable about the publishing industry, but “tabloids” sound (to me) like they’re close to the bottom rung of news reporting.
What do you think? Does word choice (“tabloid” in this case) affect how you feel about a company? Or do you immediately look beyond those first impressions to seek true substance?
Maybe The Province is setting up expectations for the day when they publish a “Martian had an affair with my wife” article.
It seems the actual meaning is just magazine with smaller, local stories. I also agree that perception is huge.
It’s another example of how words have adapted themselves because of misuse. The word ‘tabloid,’ used to simply refer to the size of the paper. Papers like the Vancouver Sun, New York Times, Globe and Mail are broadsheets because the pages are bigger, sort of wider–I suppose broader. Tabloids, because of their size had stories that were more succinct. Only in the last 30 years or so have tabloid papers gotten this sort of rap. In New York for example, the tabloids there the Daily News and the Post, are distinct (despite gossipy tendencies) from the supermarket tabloids.
And to put a finer point on the rap that the supermarket tabloids have gotten: it’s not all trash. In the last little while, the National Enquirer has had a pretty good record at breaking stories (Tiger Woods, David Boreanaz); and especially with the John Edwards story, they proved they had investigative prowess. So much so, they were a contender for the Pulitzer Prize.
Being able to break stories just shows that you are more willing to dig for the dirt than some others. But because of there record for trash, they can’t be taken serious.
When over 90% of what is in the many tabloids you just can’t look at them for anything good. Of course if you believe in Men in Black you know that tabloids are the main source of news.
You’re just not old enough to remember when The Province was broadsheet also. At that time it was the only morning paper and was second place in the local market behind the Sun, which was an afternoon paper. In attempting to reinvent themselves, they went tabloid with a major reasoning being that it would be easier to read when commuting to work. They also greatly increased the sports section and put it in reverse starting from the back page so you could quickly get up to speed in the morning on what happened the day before in sports.
It worked and they have been the number one newspaper in Vancouver for years. The Vancouver Sun is now forced to try to catch up and thus they moved to mornings to try to capture more market share.
Pardon my ignorance, but aren’t the Province and the Sun part of the same company? I guess that would be the same as Best Buy and Future Shop competing with one another.
Yes, they joined together decades ago due to costs, but when answering to your bosses each editor would need to be responsible for his own circulation. And just like a website, a newspaper sets it’s advertising rates based largely on circulation and/or market share. In the end the Sun’s editor is concerned with making a profit by maximizing circulation and advertising rates, just as the Province’s editor is concerned about his paper.
To use your very appropriate Best Buy vs Future Shop analogy, the manager of your local Best Buy cannot get away with going to the owners and saying “My store sales are down 25%, but the Future Shop down the street picked up that plus another 10%, so we’re up and I therefore deserve a raise.” More than likely he’d be fired based on his store numbers; who cares about the other store.
And now that I’ve thought a bit more about it, another big concern for both the Sun and Province: print news is starting to become a marginal business with many big papers reducing publishing days or shutting down completely. I’m sure both the Sun and the Province editors want to be ahead in the local race in case Canwest one day says “Circulation/profit is falling, we’re shutting one of you down.”
Word choice is definitely an issue here. I don’t think they should use the word “tabloid”