From Hollywood heartthrobs to Princess Diana, a look back at celebrity journalism
Society has an obsession with the rich and famous and without celebrity journalism, how else would we find out all the juiciest secrets about our favourite stars?
Celebrity journalism is believed to have been born in American magazine The New Yorker back in 1957, when novelist and story writer Truman Capote conducted an in-depth interview with Hollywood heartthrob, Marlon Brando.
The interview was described as a story like no other for its explosive revelations on the actor’s “mess” of a life and his inability to “love anyone”, words that Brando would later live to regret. Whilst publicists previously had full control over what audiences were allowed to know about celebrities, for the first time, readers had a real inside scoop into the mysterious life of a Hollywood star and over the coming years, audiences demand for this genre of journalism only grew.
Across the pond in 1969, media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquired (then) failing broadsheet, The Sun. To ensure the newspaper stood out against its competitors, Murdoch called for journalists to play a particular focus on the lives of actors and actresses both on and off-screen. This was a milestone for celebrity journalism and soon after, other newspapers started reporting their own stories.
“The content of his papers shifted towards a fascination with the sex and love lives of the famous,” Kim McNamara in Paparazzi: Media Practices and Celebrity Culture.
Those responsible for providing audiences with news stories about celebrities would later be given the title of ‘celebrity journalists’, a phrase coined by James Fallows in 1986.
In the following years’, there was controversy surrounding journalists’ invasion of celebrities’ private lives. After an initial tip-off, the press went on a five-year-long pursuit of Freddy Mercury and regularly reported on his battle with AIDS, despite this being continually denied by the Queen lead singer.
Eventually, Mercury announced the illness in 1991, just over 24 hours before his death.
Even the distinction between celebrity and monarchy was blurred as the press reported countless, personal stories about Princess Diana, so much so that the public genuinely believed they knew the real Diana after reading about her private and public life for years.
The ‘People’s Princess’ died in a car crash in 1997, with her untimely death partially caused by intrusive behaviour from paparazzi.
Today, magazines such as Hello! and OK! are dedicated to celebrity and showbiz news, whilst the MailOnline has their own ‘sidebar of shame’ featuring stories about Love Island rows, ‘young love’ exclusives and sizzling bikini selfies (and that’s only what celebrities have been up to on Monday).
TMZ journalists are ruthless in their approach to getting the videos and photos that celebrities don’t want the world to see, with many people saying the tabloid news website resembles an ‘intelligence agency’, as opposed to a news organisation.
“Having a celebrity on the cover sells magazines. That keeps advertisers and the publisher happy and… keeps the editor employed.” Charles Taylor, 1998.
In a world of Kardashians, Hollywood stars and singers galore, celebrity journalism is beneficial to the economy and society as advertisers pay for accompanying media space in articles, to reach audiences who are consuming celebrity news in their masses.
Love it or loathe it, celebrity journalism isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
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