How to become a tabloid reporter

Several respected journalists started out writing for tabloids, which can be an exciting career in itself.
You Will Need
* A college degree
* A stack of tabloids
* Eye-catching leads
* A competitive nature
* Contacts and sources
* A unique writing style
* A mastery of tabloid jargon (optional)

Step 1: Get a college degree
Get a college degree in journalism or a related field, such as English or communications. Tabloid journalism requires strong reporting and writing skills; many mainstream media stories originate in the tabloids.

Step 2: Study the tabloids
Study several different tabloids to get a feel for the types of stories they publish and for their writing style.

Celebrity-filled Los Angeles is a good place to live to become a tabloid reporter, as are New York and London.

Step 3: Generate leads
Generate eye-catching lead stories, or “leads.” Most tabloids want fresh celebrity stories, high-profile scandals, or the bizarre. This requires digging deep for a story angle and may also call for a bit of creative embellishment.

Learn tabloid jargon. Stories are written using simple language and often incorporate key catch phrases.

Step 4: Be competitive
Be competitive to stay in the tabloid game. Tabloids hire mainly freelancers, many who have no formal contract, so consistently generating publishable stories is vital.

Step 5: Build contacts
Build contacts to ensure you’ll always have a story. Contacts and sources are crucial to the tabloid industry; a reporter who doesn’t build a roster of them won’t be successful.

Step 6: Develop a unique style
Develop your own unique style. Tabloid writers distinguish themselves by what they routinely cover and their use of humor, wryness, or other signature hooks.

Fact: The word tabloid was coined in the 1880s by a London pharmaceutical company that marketed compressed tablets as “tabloid” pills.