General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPeople do understand the difference between the National Enquirer and Weekly World News, right?
The National Enquirer is a celebrity gossip tabloid primarily dealing with stories (usually from paid and unverified sources) about actual people. (At least that's been its focus for the past few decades.)
The Weekly World News is a sensational tabloid always dealing with absurd stories of the supernatural (aliens, bigfoot, Batboy, etc.) and really serves as entertainment purposes only (unless you are extremely, extremely gullible).
People saying "It's crazy that anyone would believe anything in the tabloids" are essentially writing off what Donald Trump did with the National Enquirer in 2016 as no big deal by failing to make that distinction.
If you're standing in line at the supermarket and see the WWN and a story about Batboy, you'd almost certainly think, "Ha-ha, that's stupid."
But if you're standing in line at the supermarket and see the NE and a story about Hillary Clinton secretly being sick, you might think, "Well, that's just the Enquirer of course, but...maybe?"
After all, while almost all Enquirer stories are just basic unverifiable gossip, there have been instances of a few blind-squirrel-catches-nut moments over the years where they actually did manage to break a real story.
And if you're someone who doesn't follow the mainstream news closely, and you're not very ideological on the left-right spectrum, but you vote every four years out of a general sense of civic duty, and you stand in the line at the supermarket every week, and every week there's a story about Hillary Clinton being sick, or Hillary Clinton in legal trouble, or Donald Trump being the victim of a false set-up...maybe it has an effect.
Even if you've never bought a copy of the National Enquirer in your life, or opened it up to read the actual story...it could have an effect. After all, unlike legitimate newspapers, the headlines are catchy, to the point, and in big letters. And accompanied by a big picture that always seems to underline the point of the story. (E.g. a picture of a sickly looking or angry Hillary Clinton.)
And if you live in a swing state where there's enough of these passive, impressionable voters to make a difference in the outcome of the election, it's a very serious thing that just went on.
So, yes, the Batboy and UFO jokes all seem like they're in good fun, but really, there's nothing funny at all about what happened in 2016.
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,846 posts)Don't ask me how I know, LOL!
Prairie Gates
(2,580 posts)and off-brand.
It's Weekly World News content.
Chakaconcarne
(2,718 posts)Johnny2X2X
(21,417 posts)Been echoing this for days. The NE was effectively part of the 2016 Trump campaign. And the sotries were given more credibility because FOX News was echoing their content.
if it had come out that the Washington Post and Hew York Times were catching and killing negative stories about Biden in 202 and giveng him approval of negative stories about Trump, it would be the biggest story ever. And it still might not have been as effective as what Trump had going with the National Enquirer.
The NE rigged the election for Trump.
brooklynite
(96,882 posts)...there was something to it.
That said, voters were already shifting from print to social media by 2016.
Tommy Carcetti
(43,481 posts)Even if you had no intention whatsoever of buying those tabloids, if you were in line at any store circa 2016, you would see them.
It probably didn't have an effect on most people, but the repeated exposure might have influenced some on a subliminal basis.
Really it's no different than what the Russians were doing over social media in 2016. Most of that stuff was laughable on its face too (remember the arm wrestling Jesus meme?)...but you hit someone over the head enough times, it's bound to have an impact somehow.
LeftInTX
(29,689 posts)I just wanna know how NE ended up front and center?
Those anti-Hillary rags bombarded me.
However, HEB finally figured out it. Now People, Time and various baking magazines are front and center.
BluesRunTheGame
(1,783 posts)I think they can still be found online.