Family Newspapers? provides the first detailed historical study of the modern popular press's coverage of sex and private life, from the start of the mass newspaper reading boom in 1918 to the triumph of the Sun's sexualised journalism in 1978. In this period, newspapers were at the heart of British popular culture, and Fleet Street's preoccupation with sex meant that the press was a hugely significant source of knowledge and imagery about sexual behaviour, personal relationships, and moral codes. Focusing on changing ideas of what sexual content was deemed 'fit to print', Adrian Bingham reveals how editors negotiated the tension between exploiting public curiosity about sex and ensuring that their journalism remained within the bounds of acceptability for a 'family newspaper'. The study challenges established interpretations of social change by drawing attention to the ways in which the press opened up the public discussion of sexuality before the 'permissiveness' of the 1960s. Exploring the spectacular diversity of the press's sexual content - from advice columns to pin-ups, from court reports to celebrity revelations - Bingham offers a rich and thought-provoking investigation of a media form that has done much to shape the character of modern Britain.
Reviews
Engrossing...[an] important book. * Helen McCarthy, 20th Century British History *
Adrian Binghams fascinating, scholarly and in places droll account of the British popular press in the short twentieth-century offers a much needed overview of the daily and Sunday papers in British popular culture... a coherent and succinct introduction to the field of twentieth-century media history... The substance of Family Newspapers has deep potential implications for the master frames used to understand twentieth-century Britain * Lucy Delap, Journal of British Studies *
Superb analytical history over a 60-year period eye-popping revelatory nuggets it does give credence to the widely-held view, which has never previously been proved as well as in this book, that sex sells. * Roy Greenslade, Journalism Studies *
Absorbing new study... Each chapter is packed with fascinating material and perceptive insights important book. * Helen McCarthy, Twentieth Century British History *
My own experience writing press history further heightened my appreciation of this impressive book. Family Newspapers demonstrates Adrian Binghams wide mastery of sixty years of sex and celebrity reporting in a series of popular newspapers... a labor of love on the part of the author... well written and engaging book. * Laura Beers, H-Albion *
Very useful book * H. G. Cocks, Media History *
Adrian Binghams Family Newspapers? shows clearly that the popular press has always tried to suck readers in with banner headline titillation, inside-page innuendo, and pictures of women as deshabillee as the times would allow. * Jenny Diski, London Review of Books *
There are many riches in this book ... Adrian Bingham has produced a very fine study of an important subject. * Stephen Brooke, English Historical Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199279586
Author Adrian Bingham
Format Hardback
Page Count 310
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 677g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 162mm * 20mm