The Importance of the Reverse Ferret

I’m pleased to see that Jack Shafer is calling the New York Post’s sudden admiration for President-elect Barack Obama a fine example of the time-honoured tabloid tradition of the Reverse Ferret. (See TDL here and here for more on the importance of ferrets to tabloid newspapers). But there’s nothing terribly surprising here: Obama is enormously popular and the NYP publishes in a city that voted for the new guy overwhelmingly. It would be nuts to be anything other than gushingly enthusiastic about the new President’s prospects.

Remember too that the tabloids can’t live on cynicism and manufactured outrage alone. No, they need a thick streak of sentiment too. Hence their enduring love for have-a-go heroes and rags-to-riches stories. Mawkish gloop sells too.The news business is, as Rupert Muroch might remind you, also part of the entertainment business. And what that means is that, sometimes at least, the punter is king: what the mugs want, the mugs get.