Matthew Engel writes that American visitors to Britain are shocked by the riot of competing libertine tabloids, but he could have added any number of other nationalities as well as many of the indigenous population themselves. A major part of the appeal of these newspapers is their national and linguistic specificity. They belong to, and for better or for worse, represent contemporary Britain to a carefully targeted popular audience. They have developed over time the language they use to weave their version of the fabric of national life. Much of the power of the tabloids has been accrued by the evolution of this language and its relationship to the broader patterns of popular print culture which have developed over centuries. Tabloid newspapers are merely the latest and most remarkable permutation of the language of the people in periodical form.

    The link between print media and the language of the ordinary people is as old as print itself. Printers soon realized that there was money to be made by distributing popular printed material which could reach the widest possible readership in order to maximize profits. The best way to appeal to that audience was to build upon accepted patterns of popular culture and to frame printed material as much as possible in a language with which the audience would be familiar.

    Print culture had widened the audience for a written vernacular which distinguished each  European nation from the Latin landscape of the mediaeval period. The development of local languages enhanced the feeling that each linguistic community had its own specific attributes and political interests, which were directly linked to the communicative power of these languages to draw in a wider community of speakers and listeners as active participants in the nation.