In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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                                    The shocking truth!

What is it really like to be a tabloid journalist? How are the headlines actually made? In each chapter of this book, the author tells how he gathered a story that made the front page, and uses his inside knowledge to explain a different aspect of tabloid journalism. For instance, how does cheque-book journalism work? What is it like to “doorstep” a celebrity? What do you do when the person you’re interviewing turns out to have nothing to say? How carefully is a sex scandal checked before it can be run? How do you set about looking for a story that fulfills the tabloid obsession with freaks and misfits? How does it feel to be sent half-way round the world at the drop of a hat in search of a “hard news” lead?

Review: Written in 1990, but I read it in 2015 – a lifetime in tabloid journalism. It is a (mostly) unashamed no holds barred account of how a successful tabloid journalist got his most famous stories – by fair means (rarely) and foul. It’s a book that would never be written now post Leveson Inquiry, post phone hacking scandal world, and for me was jaw dropping in the tabloid press’ clear lack of any moral backbone or fibre, whilst expecting the rest of the world to have both. Without meaning to be, in my view it’s a clear call for the press to be regulated. It’s a well written, page turning, easy read.