Tabloids; The Tabloid Press; Penny-Dreadfuls; the Gutter Press; Lowbrow
Explanation:
The term is Tabloid, the Tabloid Press.
The phrase 'the Yellow Press' doesn't exist in Britain and other English-speaking countries -- not in common usage! Some more knowledgeable people will know it (only very vaguely) as refering to Canards and 'scandal-sheets' on the Continent, which were often printed on yellow stock (like financial papers, which tend to use pink stock).
Incidentally, in the USA they have no 'national' newspapers: magazines rule. Their National Enguirer has all the tabloids' features in magazine form. Thus, another term they use is the Gutter Press.
In local US communities (which do have newspapers), Canada, other English-speaking countries and -- of course -- the home of tabloid king Rupert Murdoch, Australia, the term is tabloid.
The term Tabloid comes from the size of stock (paper) used for cheaper and more sensationalist newspapers in Britain. This is smaller than the Brosadheet size used for serious ("Highbrow") analytical newspapers in Britain. The size is still commercially available in Britain, decades after A-sizes came in. (Other pre-A-size papers include Foolscap and Quatro, similar [as I recall...] to A4.)
Instead of reporting and analysing serious news, the tabloid press focuses on celebrities and their private lives and infidelities, sports life (especially linked with betting), show biz (show business, or low-grade quasi-theatrical entertainment close to old-time Music Halls). A feature of it this school of journalism is its double standard: on the one hand, the reporter claims he is shocked by what he reports, on the other, he clearly enjoys reporting it and wants more! Thus tabloid journalists will be 'shocked and offended' by the loose sexual behaviour of some female star, but they will still print lots and lots of 'saucy' papparazzi photos showing her nude or semi-nude in private moments...
THE major marker of tabloid journalism, however, is the salacious, descriptive, lurid and lavish reporting of crime.
Indeed, it is the crime aspect that links today's tabloids with the Penny Dreadfuls of the Victorian era. These were usually printed as soon as a murder took place, or a court verdict (usually hanging) was announced on a murderer. Scores of peper vendors took them around town, screaming, say, " 'Orrible murder in Old Street!!! Read all about it!!! Only a Penny a go!!!" Since their intended eaders were the urban poor, the price was kept down to a Penny a piece. (A Penny was not all that trivial a sumq especially for poor folk, in Victorian times: Pennies still split up into 12 Farthings; but it was reasonably affordable for a gory read!)
How do I know? I am a journalist, for my sins...
| Peter Skipp
Bulgaria
Local time: 05:56
Native speaker of:  Bulgarian, English
PRO pts in pair: 96
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peer agreement (net): +3