Female representation, readership and early tabloid properties

This paper examines how Europe’s first mass circulation daily newspaper, Le Petit Journal, manifested tabloid properties. The focus is on women’s representation and readership in the context of a new emphasis on marketing, distribution, spectacle, and consumption. Scholars have recognised women’s influence as an audience on early popular newspapers, but hitherto this has not been analysed in any detail. Furthermore, the French contribution is often neglected in English-speaking research. Quantitative and qualitative analysis reveals that Le Petit Journal consolidated traditionally gendered values through sensationalised morality tales that presented spectacular examples of the transgression of social norms.