The writing in the tabloids sucks. You know it and I know it — and so do the people who work there.
Well, at least the copydesk knows it. I’ve never seen a media outlet so dependent on its copyeditors. The writers turn in real crap, their editors fix only some of it, and the copyeditors do the rest. That’s standard operating procedure.
At daily newspapers, the copyeditors are often an afterthought. Reporters and editors don’t really talk to them. But at the tabloids, the best journalists work the copydesk — and the editors and reporters are almost as afraid of them as they are of the attorneys.