Putting the E in Entertainment News
What is Entertainment news and how are journalists producing this ‘click bait’ content on such a mass scale?
Entertainment journalists are the master-minds behind the coverage of news and events within the entertainment sector. This can cover anything from film, television, music, live events and even fashion. With a constant buzz around the media in show business, they explore celebrity culture and relegate it within our free press.
“The Mirror’s content — just like that of its tabloid competitors — is still dominated by stories about show-business, royalty, crime and scandal” Steven Barnett, 2002
Entertainment journalism finds its home in Tabloid papers, social media and many other online sources. It would seem there are certain levels of respect when it comes to different types of journalism, and with entertainment news residing in the category of ‘soft news’ this sector is regarded as ‘easy reading’ and often ‘page fillers’. However, Entertainment Journalism is everywhere, why? Because it’s easy to read, it’s entertaining and lets face it…it provides just a little bit of sanity amongst our chaotic politics shaping the headlines across all of our media publications.
Entertainment journalism is everywhere because of the boom in social media. It’s evident that entertainment news is the most ‘share-worthy’ source of news, providing an escape for audiences. The news subjects are:
Easy to comment on.
Easy to share.
Easy to read.
The sad reality of entertainment journalism, is that it’s overruling other kinds of news. A fatal police shooting took place in North Carolina, United States just one example of a worrying epidemic that is spreading quickly across the US. The same time this happened, news broke about the ‘Brangelina Split’ and unfortunately the fatal shooting was out and one of the most famous couple’s break-up was in. With so much access to news, through online sources and social media, it is often hard to distinguish the importance of different kinds of news. Evidently a tragic fatal shooting, should hold priority over a celebrity break up. But with the importance of news values and media organisations focus on selling stories rather than relegating a fair and free press, it would seem this kind of case study will only increase.
So there you have it, an introduction into the madness of Entertainment Journalism. This sector has such a vast predominance in our media and with the expansion of social media, who knows the extent of how these ‘news worthy’ sources can affect our digital age.