Tabloid Ethics In The Time Of Trump

One of the most popular and well-known regular columns in the celebrity-gossip rag Us Weekly is also one of its silliest: “Stars — They’re Just Like Us!” The feature showcases photos of celebrities engaging in everyday activities that are noteworthy precisely because they are so mundanely normal. (Sample captions include: “They choose paper over plastic!”, “They pay for parking!”, and “They go to the airport!”)

It’s a goofy feature, but also one that in many ways perfectly encapsulates what Us Weekly and other celebrity gossip publications like People, OK!, and Closer are all about. The mission of these pubs is simple: exalt celebrities while attempting to bring readers closer to them. And so, we’re treated not only to photos of A-listers paying the meter or catching their flight, but to “inside looks” at their private lives, and interviews in which they share their favorite movies, open up (clandestinely) about their love lives, or reveal how they mended a broken heart.

In many ways, this is a relatively innocuous mission, particularly when compared to more incendiary, lie-peddling tabloids like The National Enquirer or Star. But problematically, this approach has also been applied over…