Introduction:

The phenomenon of media tabloidization, based on the predominance of light news, increase of the visual and hyper-concurrence, is more pronounced in face of the economic pressures surrounding the media sector.

Objetives:

To evaluate the front pages of the four Portuguese generalist daily newspapers during a year, in order to understand whether the formal characteristics of tabloidization have any expression in these periodicals.

Methods:

Through a direct analysis of 54 covers of each diary, and based on the scheme proposed by Colin Sparks (2000), we quantified the number of news and imagens on the front pages and categorized them in terms of the focus (public or private) and the theme (light or hard).

Results:

We concluded that Correio da Manhã and Jornal de Notícias are the press titles in which the singularities of the tabloidization phenomenon are most visible. On the contrary, Jornal i and Público are the newspapers with the least signs of tabloidization.

Conclusions:

Tabloidization is more visible in the two generalist daily newspapers that are market leaders, which confirms the idea that argues that the journalistic treatment of lighter themes may be a way to overcome the economic media crisis.

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