Mapping the cultural space of journalism Book

This was published in 1997, so I need to dig around to see how much fuckery the tabloids have got up to in the last 20 years (I'm guessing it's a lot; Trump is close with David Pecker, CEO of the Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc.). Jim Hogshire also tends to write pamphlets more than books, and this one could probably have been expanded far more than its modest page count.

Then again, maybe it couldn't. The tabloids as we know them - and we know them as the cheap-ish supermarket rags full of trashy gossip and made-up stories about Elvis and UFOs - are extremely secretive about their inner workings. Hogshire, as a former writer for the tabs, has more of an insight into them than most, and makes a compelling case that the tabs exist as psy ops against the American people to reinforce the status quo. I'm hardly a snob and have picked up a few tabs before, and can confirm that tabs repeat the same "lessons" issue after issue: hard work is rewarded. People get what they deserve if they transgress morally. The undeserving high and mighty shall fall. White, middle-class Christian values will prevail. Most damning, tabloids have blatant CIA connections going back to Gene Pope, the legendary owner of National Inquirer.

The mainstream media normally trashes the tabloids, but feeds off them - certain tabs have broken major stories. Tabloids employ former journalists from respected outlets, even.

I like books that make me want to research more about the topic, and the gossip was fun. I've liked all of Hogshire's work.