Tabloid talk shows of the 1990s thrived on confrontation and class voyeurism.

Evidence

Howard Stern, originally a radio personality, began his own television show in the 1990s and gained a national audience with a show centered on offensive and taboo topics. With radio, television, and bestselling books as platforms, he described himself as “The King of All Media.” Meanwhile, the tabloid format (described by some as “freak shows”) was popular enough to sustain not just Rivera but also a former politician named Jerry Springer, whose show centered on topics like incest and whose specialty was creating dramatic on-show confrontations between his guests. Others, like the Ricki Lake show, the Jenny Jones show, and Sally Jessy Raphael, all, in the words of one critic, relied on “the low risk strategy of class voyeurism.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 791

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774

Broader Connections

• TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences #expands (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774