Tarnished Stars: The Discourses of Celebrity in the British Tabloid Press

Abstract

En este estudio se analiza el discurso referido a las celebridades en la prensa popular inglesa. El análisis se centra en los recursos lingüísticos utilizados en este contexto, y el discurso informal que se emplea para atraer y representar a los lectores. Se procede a un estudio crítico de las posiciones de sujeto ofrecidas al lector, y las relaciones retóricas que se establecen. En las conclusiones se subraya la función de la prensa popular como mediador social, irreverente sin ser amenazador, que genera discursos populistas para enganchar una audiencia de masa en una época de fragmentación.Abstract:This study analyses the discourse of celebrity in texts from the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. The analysis focuses on the linguistic resources deployed in association with celebrities, and the typically vernacular voice with which the writer engages readers and claims to speak for them. The article then discusses factors underlying the subject positions offered to the readers and the nature of the rhetorical relations that are established. Conclusions are drawn about the operation of tabloid newspapers as social mediators that are irreverent without being threatening, generating populist discourses that contrive to engage mass audiences in an age of fragmentation.