Tabloid

A family-oriented tabloid has appeared in Carroll County to deal with everything from how to occupy the kids to tips on training a new puppy.And, if the initial reaction to Families of Carroll County is any indication, the free monthly newspaper is here to stay, said its editor, Lynn Myers of Westminster."

Here's hoping that news of guilty verdicts in the Jerry Sandusky case took a huge bite out of the audience ABC's  "20/20"  expected for its hour-too-long interview with Rielle Hunter Friday night. I say that because then ABC News will have gained nothing for debasing itself by giving an hour of prime time to this wretched woman so that she could sell more copies of her new book. In fact, I am really hoping ABC News lost some credibility with viewers for sticking with this tabloid con job instead of breaking away at some point to cover the real news that the former Penn State coach was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts in connection with the sexual molestation of minors.

Havre de Grace. -- There's been much wailing and lamentation lately over the recent demise of a New York tabloid newspaper which not all that many people read. Especially as we in the Baltimore area are about to lose a paper of our own, it's worth a moment to consider what all the fuss is about.As is often the case when journalists yowl about business decisions, especially those affecting their own industry, much of what's been said seems exaggerated -- and in some cases downright hypocritical.

Last Sunday, I wrote about the way in which British tabloid values had already taken root in American media and corroded the soul of our press. I was challenging the conventional wisdom here that our journalistic standards are somehow vastly superior to those of the British. I think too many analysts are using the News of the World scandal to support that false belief. I am hoping we can use the discussion to help us pull back from the values Rupert Murdoch had helped import.

The chairman and the vice chairman of the company that owns the grocery store tabloids National Enquirer and The Star have expressed an interest in buying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and keeping the franchise local.Peter Callahan, chairman of the Enquirer/Star Group Inc., and Michael Boylan, vice chairman, met yesterday with Steve Story, one of three trustees brokering the sale of the team for the estate of late owner Hugh Culverhouse.Callahan and Boylan, who are exploring the purchase as private investors, not on behalf of their company, join a long list of potential suitors, including Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos.

As the scandal that sunk Rupert Murdoch's News of the World continued to unfold last week, one of the questions that loomed was whether there would be any fallout on this side of the Atlantic. What most American analysts were wondering was whether evidence would show that employees in Britain or at one of Murdoch's U.S. properties like the New York Post had hacked into the voice mails of family members or victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — or paid off police for information on celebrities and others here or abroad.

Some of us still recall a woman named Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was the Princess Diana of her day. In my misspent youth, I worked for one of the British newspapers when the world's paparazzi were chasing Jackie and trying to catch her in some dreadful act of being human.Back then, Rupert Murdoch had just bought the London Sun and turned it into a tabloid, and must have been doing cartwheels when Jackie tried to sneak out of a New York movie theater but found a photographer named Ron Galella waiting for her.The movie she'd just seen was called "I Am Curious Yellow."

GOD BLESS Rabbi Martin Siegel. The Columbia clergyman's heart was in the right place last week when he asked supermarket chains to remove tabloids from their checkout counters.Rabbi Siegel argues, as many do, that tabloid exploitation of celebrities was responsible for Princess Diana's tragic death. He wants to remove these scandal sheets from the public's consciousness by convincing stores to hide them.Shoppers who delight in celebrity gossip would have to search the aisles for their weekly fix, if the rabbi has his way.Rabbi Siegel, who led the Columbia Jewish Congregation for 25 years, says Princess Diana's death brings a "window of opportunity" for change, and he intends to take advantage.

Eddie Clontz knows what people like to read about.1) UFOs.2) Monsters.3) Things found in jungles.4) Biggest things in the world, littlest things in the world (tongues, babies, etc.).Like the circus sideshows of P. T. Barnum, the 48-page Weekly World News, published from Lantana, Fla., has clearly rediscovered the American fascination with the grotesque, the outrageous and the bizarre.For 85 cents an issue, available at the grocery checkout line each Monday, readers get a glimpse of the space aliens, live dinosaurs and other miracles that fail to landscape their own dreary lives.

MEXICO CITY -- Police-shooters, baby-stealers, wife-beaters and thugs of every stripe brandish pistols, knives and, in the case of one cross-dressing rapist, a tube of pink lipstick.Such are the unlikely stars of "Duro y Directo" ("Tough and Direct"), the latest in a series of Mexican television tabloids that have become hits through their gritty coverage of this country's crime crisis.But as the shows' popularity has grown, so has the controversy surrounding them. Next week, Mexico's top broadcaster will scrap "Duro y Directo" after an appeal from President Ernesto Zedillo.

As the scandal that sunk Rupert Murdoch's News of the World continued to unfold last week, one of the questions that loomed was whether there would be any fallout on this side of the Atlantic. What most American analysts were wondering was whether evidence would show that employees in Britain or at one of Murdoch's U.S. properties like the New York Post had hacked into the voice mails of family members or victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — or paid off police for information on celebrities and others here or abroad.

Last year when CNN was talking about hiring Eliot Spitzer and Piers Morgan, I expressed my dismay at the way in which both could harm the credibility that the channel had steadfastly built through its journalism. Spitzer did prove to be an embarrassment when CNN tried to cover political sex scandals tbis year, and he is now gone for a variety of reasons, thank goodness. And now, just as I was becoming reconciled to accepting Morgan as the price I had to pay for all the sound journalism and analysis otherwise on CNN, comes Rupert Murdoch's News of the World scandal with its revelations of despicable phone hacking -- a scandal that threatens to shine a very bright light on Morgan's career as a UK tabloid editor.

F rom the end of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" to the start of what it is hoping will be a beautiful relationship with Oprah Winfrey, it has been a year of headlines and tabloid madness for Maryland-based Discovery Communications, a company once known for nature documentaries made in other countries. "Jon & Kate," a reality TV series about a family of 10, became tabloid manna last spring when it was revealed that Jon Gosselin, the 34-year-old dad, was having relationships with women in their 20s. By the time the series, which airs on Discovery's TLC channel, returned for its fifth season in June with the announcement that Jon and Kate were divorcing, the tabloid-driven audience had soared to 10.8 million viewers - and Discovery earnings were up $109 million over last year.

Michael Phelps, the Rodgers Forge native who has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history, acknowledged yesterday that he had engaged in "regrettable" behavior and shown "bad judgment" after a photo of him smoking what appears to be marijuana from a glass bong was published in a British tabloid over the weekend. Marijuana is classified by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees Olympic and international drug testing, as a banned "in-competition" substance, meaning Phelps is unlikely to face punishment or suspension.

TMZ 6 p.m. [Ch. 24] Before he immerses himself in the pool again, you never know whether Michael Phelps (right) and his Vegas cocktail waitress girlfriend might pop up on tabloid shows such as this. Once he's back training, don't expect any juicy stuff for a while.

Katherin Marie Sullivan Opie Johnson, a longtime Essex resident who tended bar well into her 60s, died Friday at a nursing home in Martinsburg, W.Va. She was 82. Katherin Marie Sullivan was born in Baltimore to Irish immigrant parents. She was an only child and grew up on Ashland Avenue. As a young girl, she got 25 cents from her neighbors to wash their front steps - her first job. After she graduated from high school, she met Clyde Nesbit Opie at a downtown Baltimore lounge. She married Mr. Opie, who was a maintenance worker for airplane manufacturer Martin Marietta in Middle River, when she was 25. The two had six children, three boys and three girls, before they divorced.

Michael L. Brown never set out to slay any giants.He just thought he and the rest of the world ought to be able to walk through the supermarket checkout line without being exposed to what he calls "sexual smut."Yesterday, he got part of what he wanted when Giant Food, the area's largest supermarket chain, disclosed that one aisle of each store will soon be tabloid-free. It is believed to be the first time a major supermarket chain has taken such a step.But a Giant spokesman yesterday emphasized that the action is not in response to protests from Mr. Brown, who this spring started a petition campaign asking that tabloid publications such as the National Enquirer and the Globe and magazines -- including Cosmopolitan and Mademoiselle -- be removed from Giant checkout aisles.

WIMBLEDON, England - Jelena Dokic was not amused. Her car was late. She barely had time to change clothes, let alone warm up, before her match. And a British tabloid was saying some very mean things about her often volatile dad, Damir. But Dokic shrugged off the transportation and tabloid problems and swatted away Barbara Schett, 6-3, 7-5, yesterday to roll into Wimbledon's round of 16. And then she lit into a British tabloid, The Mirror, which hyped the match with the headline "Babsi v Beast."

The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which publishes The Sun, said yesterday that it will start a free daily tabloid and Web site targeting young adults. The newspaper, b, and Web site, bthesite.com, will launch April 14, focusing on news, sports and pop culture geared to readers in the roughly 18- to 34-year-old range, with a heavy dose of entertainment and nightlife coverage. It also will publish reader-generated content and material from other publications, including RedEye, a young adult-oriented tabloid published by the Chicago Tribune.

The Sun launched a new Sports section today that has been redesigned to make it more visually appealing and easier to read. The new Sports section has been transformed into a tabloid format Monday through Saturday. Although we've repackaged the section, we've kept all of your favorite columns and features. To make it easier to find certain staples, the sports columnist will appear on Page 2, TV/Calendar listings are on Page 3, the Roundup pages will be in the back of the section and the Last Word column will be the last inside page of the tabloid.