The American Tabloids and the Runaway Bride Case

The most important events and pieces of information are globally spread through media. It is
already known the power of influence that the media possess; the media establish the trend and
decide the way and manner in which the consumers perceive the events. The American media are
the most powerful and influence all the other types of media from all over the world. Even in
Romania, each newspaper and newscast presents events and topics that took place in America.
Whatever we read, no matter what newspaper we buy or what TV station we watch, the
American media is present. However, what role does have the tabloidization in the media? The
modern and powerful movement called tabloidization seems to have influenced the traditional
media, specifically in what concerns the fields of news and print media (Harris 2005: 2). The
tabloids gained power and slowly overcome the traditional media. This might have happened due
to the pieces of news that have been exaggerated and that have gained the status of sensational,
in this way attracting the readers attention. One such example which will be analyzed in the
following pages is represented by a story that toured America: the Runaway Bride Case. This
story has been analyzed by both the traditional newspapers and tabloids. The next pages will
analyze the way in which the tabloid newspapers presented and turned into sensational the story
of a woman who vanished a few days before her wedding.
Before starting inspecting the Runaway Bride Case, it is necessary to try to define what a tabloid
is and how the tabloidization gained such force not only in America, but also in the entire world.
A short research shows that tabloid was initially a medical pill that was used for various diseases.
Shortly, the word tabloid became a source of contention between the drug industry and the
media at the end of the nineteenth century (Harris 2005: 3). In present, the term tabloid is used
to refer to something that is sensational, exceptional and strange in one way or another. Elizabeth
Bird describes the tabloid as the paper whose stock in trade is the human-interest, graphically
told story, heavy on pictures and short, pithy, highly stereotyped prose (Bird 1992: 8). Besides
all these characteristics, a tabloid can also be described as yellow journalism, soft news,
infotainment and most recently, newszak (Harris 2005: 4). All these labels prove the fact that
the tabloids do not focus on the cultural and social aspects of news, but rather on the parts that
are considered exciting or horrifying and that will definitely attract the readers. In this sense, the
tabloids should not be considered as news, but rather as examples of dumbed-down news

content for consumption by the masses (Harris 2005: 4). Moreover, the tabloids are considered
to be the villain in the media world, as well as a source of extreme embarrassment for societys
journalistic and literary elite (Harris 2005: 5). The large size, the big headlines and titles, the
colored pages, the multitude of pictures and the variety of gossips about crimes, celebrity and
scandals, all these features describe a tabloid newspaper. However, why did the tabloids gain
such big amount of force in the media? The development of Internet and the hectic society
helped the advancement of the tabloids and tabloidization.
The most powerful and noticeable barometer of a tabloid newspaper or TV programming is
represented by the cases and stories that they present. The tabloids possess the gift to turn
apparently simple, irrelevant stories into extravagant, exciting and sensational headlines that will
be on the lips of all people for several months. However, after two or three months of heavy
debates on all sorts of topics, the exciting and extraordinary aspects disappear and the people
immediately forget about them. The tabloids present the news like in a circle, every time fresh
news appears after the old one. This demonstrates the fact that tabloids are indeed the newspaper
of supermarkets characterized by inconsistency.
The case of Jennifer Carol Wilbanks, also known as the Runaway Bride represents such an
extravagant story that the American tabloids and also the elite newspapers knew exactly how to
present in such manner that fascinated all the Americans. Jennifer Wilbanks from Duluth,
Gerogia, gained Americas attention when she was reported missing by her family and fianc
after not returning home from her usual evening jogging on April 25th, 2005. This story was
even more breathtaking due to the fact that in the next three days she should have been getting
married. All the newspapers and the TV shows were wondering what happened: was she dead,
was she kidnapped or was she simply running away? For days, her fianc John Mason, her entire
family and even concerned citizens that watched the case, were looking for her. The police also
interfered, spending not only time, but also money. This case was hunting the entire American
nation. After days of searching with no result, the police decided that the family and the fianc
should be interrogated. John Mason even took a polygraph test after which she was considered as
the main suspect in his wifes disappearance. The entire media became mad about this case.
Every day, a new headline appeared suggesting what might have happened. However, the
miracle produced and suddenly Wilbanks appeared safe and alive in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The story that followed is even more exciting and horrifying at the same time. She told her fianc
that she was kidnapped and tortured by a Mexican male and a Caucasian woman. However, she
somehow succeeded to escape. Despite this sad and alarming story, everyone was happy that
Jennifer appeared: her family, her fianc who was declared innocent and the entire American
nation. This story was the story of a heroine who managed to resist torture and sexual aggression.
The tabloids presented the story in such manner that every single American sympathized with
her. Nonetheless, the miracle vanished when the truth came to surface: Wilbanks invented the
story after she realized that she does not want to get married anymore and that she was too afraid
to admit it in front of her family (Harris 2005: 69-70). With this truth, all the savor of the story
disappeared: there was no heroine, there were no Mexican kidnappers and what was more
important, there was no sparkle of the story.
Jennifer Wilbankss case is considered to be typical and it shows the extent to which
tabloidization has completely saturated American media (Harris 2005: 70). This story turned
into a national event which was analyzed and investigated by almost all the tabloids and also by
the elite newspapers from America. For example, Tampa Tribune described the case as national
worry, The New York Times as the case that commanded the attention of the national news
media, the Charlotte Observer as a nationwide sensation (Harris 2005:70). All the tabloids and
the entire media were fascinated by this subject and tried to take advantage of it, by presenting
the facts in the most extravagant way. Jennifers story slowly rocketed to the top of the news
heap, leapt into the forefront of the nation's conscience and circled around the world (Harris
2005: 70). The case was not only debated on paper, but also on TV as it was discussed in a
variety of TV shows from Court TV, Fox News and On the Record (Harris 2005: 71). Moreover,
this story also flooded the Internet and extremely popular TV shows such as NBCs Today and
ABCs Good Morning America, TV shows that have millions of viewers. The popularity of the
story grew even more when Jennifer declared the truth: from that moment, the case was even
more debated with an even more power: A brief search of newspaper articles from the day
Wilbanks was reported missing (April 27th) through June 28, 2005, demonstrates the importance
and interest placed on this story, with a multitude of both American and foreign newspapers
covering the event in some capacity (Harris 2005: 71). Not only America was interested in this
subject, but also countries as England, Canada, New Zeeland and Australia. Each newspaper sent
journalists on the scene, trying desperately to catch the chance of an interview with Jennifer

Wilbanks. Eventually, Katie Couric from NBC was the only reporter who managed to interview
Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason, in this way attracting almost nine million viewers (Harris
2005: 72).
The Runaway Bride Case was analyzed and debated for several months by newspapers
belonging to both the tabloid market and to the elitist one. The Enquirer and Star magazines
seemed to be the ones who used tabloids techniques at the fullest. Following the traditional style
of tabloids, these two magazines kept the colored pictures, big headlines and the reduced amount
of words. For example, the articles from the Star magazine were no longer than 100 words and
were surrounded by large pictures. On the other hand, The New York Daily News (NYD),
preferred to preserve a more conservative look in keeping with its newspaper-like format
(Harris 2005: 98). The articles that it presented had around 400 words and the pictures were of
normal size. Moreover, the style of the articles that New York Daily news presented was much
more akin to the style of mainstream newspapers, a fact that was rather surprising, considering
this publications classic tabloid size and cover (Harris 2005: 98). Due to the fact that it tried to
preserve the traditional style, NYD articles on the Runaway Bride could seemingly be
substituted for any of the southern papers (and perhaps the New York Times) without incident
(Harris 2005: 98).
However, even the so-called serious newspapers presented the tendency to inspire from the
tabloids style. This case became so spread in the United States and millions of tabloids
consumers were following it every single day that even the elitist newspapers realized that they
should take advantage of it as much as possible. Therefore, newspapers such as The Times, the
Observer, and the Tribune published articles of small size, with no more than 175 words
occupying in this way important places on the consumers market and making extensive sales.
The Times occupied the 3rd place with the publication of ten articles, the Tribune was on the 4th
place with seven articles and the Observer took the leading position occupying the second place
by covering the Runaway Bride Case with fifteen articles (Harris 2005: 102).
All the tabloids and the other newspapers who covered this case each day, understood the
importance of attracting the consumers attention and this could be done only by exaggerating a
story that apparently was a trivial one. Thus, comparing Jennifers story with famous movies and
celebrities was one of the tactics used. Therefore, the famous movie from 1999 called Runaway

Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in the main roles was used in order to make a
comparison between the story of the film and the one of Wilbanks. Thus, Jennifer Wilbanks was
compared to Maggie (played by Julia Roberts), a woman who was so undecided when it came to
getting married, that she ended up leaving all her lovers in the day of the wedding. The
exaggeration was even more accentuated when all the newspapers presented statements of
Jennifers friends, statements that claimed that Wilbanks is obsessed with Roberts, desperately
wants to be her, and may have acted out scenes from the stars own movie roles and personal life
when she ran from her impending wedding (Harris 2005: 101). Another movie that was used in
order to compare Jennifers story was Sleeping with the Enemy, a movie in which Julia Roberts
was also the main actress: In Sleeping With The Enemy, Julias character cuts her hair, leaves
her [wedding] ring and belongings behind and escapes by bus In real life, Julia also got cold
feet and broke up with fianc Kiefer Sutherland before their planned 1991 wedding (Gentile in
Harris 2005: 101).
By presenting a story that should have been a simple one and by using different media tactics,
the tabloids proved one more time how important are the sensational and the exaggeration in
order to attract the consumers and to create a mass opinion.