Ron Rosenbaum explains our fascination with tabloids:

Tabloid stories are our equivalent of Old Testament admonitory allegories. Which may explain why liberal tabloids are rarely successful in the long term. Because, it seems, successful tabloids believe in sin. Ineradicable, original sin. The best tabloid stories are about original ways of being sinful. And most liberals believe less in sin than in psychology: Everyone’s a victim. I’m not saying either side has the whole truth. But sin often makes a better story.