ABSTRACT. Johnson-Cartee explains that in order for news narratives to be effective or understandable, news reporters believe that the audience must somehow relate to the story (the audience must identify with the players in the narrative). Bird says that tabloid news – stories that merit a column or two in the New York Times – are picked up, dressed up, and spread over half a page in a tabloid. Manovich affirms that new media may look like media, but this is only the surface. Sparks and Tulloch define tabloidization as involving a shift in the priorities within a given medium away from news and information toward an emphasis on entertainment.