The impact of celebrity journalism on society
Paraic Sullivan (10349033)
Are Kim Kardashian and Kanye on or off? Is Angelina Jolie pregnant? In the world of celebrity journalism, secret sources, outrageous revelations and sordid photographs reign supreme.
One would be forgiven if they thought the birth of celebrity journalism came from Who? Weekly or New Idea but it was in fact The New Yorker .
In 1957, The New Yorker, which to that point had shunned any aspect of entertainment journalism, authorised Truman Capote to depict to the public a sense of who Marlon Brando was. Capote shadowed Brando for a full day and created a piece like never before.
As if you already didn't know, the internet has truly become the number one source for almost anything and everything. From the news being updated every second, to pop-stars promoting themselves, to dating sites, there are limitless ways for one to get lost for hours and be entertained by simply sitting dawdling in front of a phone or laptop.
People enjoy to read stories about other people. It was a shock to hear of the success of People magazine and the comparatively low readership of the issue-oriented New Republic. Even serious-minded readers want to read about people. Many sophisticated readers, for example, think the private life of a politicians sex life bears no relevance to the merits of his or her performance in their role, but many think it’s insightful about their character. (Hold the Press, pg 81, Hamilton, Krimsky) I have actually heard it rumoured that some people do not believe all they read in the newspapers.
Todays news media is very powerful and different sources find their power in different ways. The web is a prominent news source and allows people to believe unfiltered, untrue reporting and rumours. There is no longer such thing as an accusation too embarrassing to be printed if it seems to bear on a politicians character. President Bill Clintons affair with Monica Lewinsky sent shockwaves throughout the globe. Was this head-over-heals public scandal when people began to truly obsess with the famous and powerful?
Online journalism and the world wide web allow public consumers to freely discuss and debate about various global issues by online communication. The internet is so vast that it is the primary way people connect with each other to receive news and is greater than any other communication system. Facebook and Twitter are two of the main examples of social networking where people come together to create a public sphere, through these sites information is spread quickly. Nowadays most people see major news headlines through stories on the internet rather than watching television or listening to the radio. Conboy (2013) argues that celebrity journalism is more than just giving information to the public; it is also used as a ‘hook’ to want them coming back for more, which is exactly what journalism sites such as the Daily Mail and The Sun do.
People read articles about their favourite celebrities online then come back to find out more at a later date. Although this can be seen as soft news, it does create conversation between members of the public where they can comment on the website and freely discuss the topics in the article. Therefore in this way, celebrity centred journalism doesn’t devalue in the public sphere, it does the complete opposite. Celebrity journalism is often associated with newspaper weekend sections and glossy magazines (Boyd 2001), and is classed as soft news because of its human interest stories, celebrity profiles and personal columns.
However, evidence from a study by Prior (2010) when completing a survey on members of the public to find out what the preferred news format was showed that hard news was more popular than soft news which contradicts the idea that celebrity centred journalism is extremely popular because people preferred more relevant and factual headlines rather than “celebrity gossip.” From this study, Prior (2010) found that those who preferred soft news had less political knowledge which is evidence that celebrity journalism is in fact debasing the public sphere because people are less aware of the more important news stories in the media. He also said that those who watch ‘traditional hard news formats’ will automatically be better informed on subjects such as sex and drugs.
In some cases the public aren’t just interested in finding out the latest celebrity gossip but they more interested in the celebrities themselves, from what they are wearing to how they act in different situations. Turner (2004) argued that celebrities can create a cultural and social identity through the media and that they create ‘norms’ that the public often pick up on. He also said that celebrities can provide role models in terms of how to be an individual of a particular gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. This argues that celebrity centred journalism doesn’t just create storylines but it also has a positive and influential effect on public behaviourism's, proving that this doesn’t demean within the public sphere.
In conclusion, it is clear that there are reasons for both sides of the argument to be looked at when answering the question. Celebrity centred journalism does devalue the public sphere because the amount of journalism that is published about celebrities nowadays means that members of the public don’t feel the need to come together as much as they would to talk about social issues. Years ago, people would come together more often in a public sphere situation to discuss social issues but now because new media and technologies, it rarely happens because these social issues are discussed online instead. This can also be said because of how the majority of the public surveyed in Prior (2010) questionnaire.
However, people claim that it doesn’t debase the public sphere because Prior said that people don’t watch the television to gain knowledge. Taylor and Harris (2008) discussed that the public sphere is now dominated by amorphous and intangible associations, meaning that it has no real structure to it, thus supporting the argument about ‘dumbing down’ the public sphere because it seems that people don’t really know what they are talking about.
References-
- Hamilton, J.M., & Krimsky, G.A. (1996) Hold The Press : The Inside Story On Newspapers.
- Conboy, M, (2013) Celebrity journalism — An oxymoron? Forms and functions of a genre.
- Boyd, A. (2001) Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and Television News (5th ed.). Oxford: Focal Press.
- Prior, M. (2010) You’ve Either Got It or You Don’t? The Stability of Political Interest over the Life Cycle.
- Turner, G. (2004) Understanding Celebrity.
- Taylor, A P., & Harris, J LI, (2008) Critical Theories of Mass Media: Then and Now.