Celebrity Journalism: A Criticism
Over the past decades, celebrity journalism has taken a massive fall.
Celebrity journalism is extremely popular. People love to know the insights into a celebrity's life and to be up to date with the latest gossip. Myself included, people love gossip and hearing about the latest scandals and news. In the UK, there are several celebrity gossip websites and magazines which discuss the latest news and scoops. However, I can’t help but feel that celebrity journalism is poor. A journalists job is to report on stories, bringing information and facts to the public's attention. However, where do you draw the line?
Many celebrities LOVE attention and will put themselves under the medias eye for exposure and attention. I am aware of this and of course, journalists will still report on outrageous and bizarre stories. I am not the target demographic for these stories, so I’m aware people are genuinely interested. However, I feel that journalists try to exploit celebrities and try to harm them, and will also create mundane,stories.
There are two sides of celebrity journalism that highlights the fall..
Firstly, many journalists will create stories headlines which are completely mundane and are irrelevant celebrity ‘news’.
Take these for example:
Don’t worry, there’s more..
These articles written by Daily Mail reporters highlight the state of modern celebrity journalism. Not all publications produce content like this, however, I cannot understand how these are written, edited and published. Surely someone must say ‘ that isn’t news’? Again, I know I’m not the target demographic for this but this shows the clear problem with celebrity journalism. The headlines I have shown above are examples of hundreds of articles which are posted each week. These irrelevant headlines and articles are still being published and It makes little to no sense to me.
Exploitation
The other side to celebrity journalism is exploitation. News outlets will always post headlines and articles which will create attention. Some people will argue that this part of being a celebrity, which I can understand. Many celebrities act like idiots and will do ridiculous things for attention. However, there is a line and I feel journalists will attack celebrities for their own gain.
Here’s a few examples of body shaming:
For someone to call this journalism, is an absolute disgrace. This is a small example of thousands of articles which are produced like this. These are examples of body shaming, which many news publications have been guilty of. The Now magazine shown above is genuinely headlined ’21 Shocking Bodies’. The following example shown is Kim Kardashian, when she was legitimately pregnant. One of the sub headings on the ‘inTouch’ magazine is ‘Kim sobs: Even my armpits are fat!’.
These are examples of journalists ‘kicking’ celebrities when they are down and shows the clear rubbish that celebrity journalism can be. Body shaming is an example but there are many other forms of exploitation that is written by journalists. Many journalists will attack celebrities when they are low and create unnecessary headlines which can be harmful. These headlines are not only harmful to the celebrity but to the reader of the article.
Many people will be interested in this type of news, however, the attack on these individuals isn’t right. Many journalists will exploit and forget that behind the celebrity is an individual with self — esteem. This highlights the dark truth of being famous, people forget that celebrities are human too.
Overall, celebrity journalism is always going to exist in our society. Celebrity journalism can be interesting and is needed. However, many journalists create either mundane or exploiting stories to attack celebrities. The examples shown highlight the problem with celebrity news and the criticism I have of this form of journalism.
Is it okay for journalists to portray and exploit celebrities like this?
Let me know your thoughts!
