Celebrity Gossip

Celebrity Gossip Industry “Khloe Kardashian Caught With Another Man!” “Kanye Cheats on Kim!” “Was Rihanna Pregnant?” These are all headlines from celebrity gossip magazines. The gossip industry has become a very influence part of our society. Tabloids try to influence us by telling us what to do, what to wear, how to eat, what’s sexy and what’s not. Tabloids discover ways to do more than just commercialize products, they advertise people. Celebrities have become a business in themselves by endorsing products with their fame and status. The writers of these Tabloids idolize these celebs in the media and tell readers what beautiful looks like along with allot of other things to brain wash them. Why do these things matter? Why is this so important to regular citizens like us? And most importantly, How/Why do these magazine sell?
Anything that has to do with celebrity gossip always turned me away. Gossip is normally never a good thing simply because it’s normally never proven to be true. It is often bias and leave you with a sense of the story just being based off of what the wrote heard , rather than actually doing an investigation for themselves. Even then, Why should I care where Kim Kardashian was spotted yesterday? Why do people care about celebrity marriage issues? But more importantly I always wondered why are these magazines so popular? I think I could without knowing about Lindsay Lohan’s latest wrongdoing. Although, I came to realize that many regular everyday people lust for the fame of these celebrities. To these regular people, whats more entertaining than reading about celebrities? Maybe reading about celebrities who also have the same problems as regular everyday people. “Gossip allows individuals to compare their own traits and behaviors to those of others” (De Backer 408). Needless to say, people have a tendency to get pleasure from someone else’s misfortune.
So how do they sell? Well it’s easy. If I told you a secret about someone you hate or someone you barely even know, I guarantee that you would want to know more. This is similar to the headlines on popular magazines. “Kim Kardashian Got Pregnant for 22 Million Dollars,” found in STAR magazine. “Obama’s Gay Scandal,” found in GLOBAL. “Kris Jenner’s Secret Affair,” found in US Weekly. What do all of these titles have in common? It’s a way to draw you to want to know more. These titles are put in the magazines with big bold letters with obnoxious colors to gain your attention and reel you in as the fish of the day. The writers of these magazines tend to spice up their articles because of the demand for juicy gossip. “It feels , sometimes, like the writer gives up, thinks of the rent bill, and types on a kind of automatic pilot, giving the magazine or the reader or the movie publicists what they want—and nothing more” (Rophie 440).
By making the articles more juicy and interesting, it leaves the readers wanting more and more. Therefore, this also ensures they buy the next week’s issue. Tabloids are focused more upon selling, far more than anything else. They’re always looking to sell the latest story, and with the thirst for a juicy story, they successfully do so. Magazines and web-based celebrity gossip sites make millions from the stories they put out. They also pay anyone who can deliver them a hot, interesting story about a celebrity. During Lindsay Lohan’s court case for theft charges, 150 reporters surrounded the Los Angeles court house she was in. A Los Angeles Deputy named Coroner Ed Winter claimed his department was offered as much as $2 million dollars for photos of Michael Jackson’s corpse. The media would go to any lengths, no matter the cost, to get these stories to the masses. In doing so, they influence many individuals like you and I to also go to any lengths to get these stories.”…the massive, multimillion-dollar celebrity gossip industry that formed from what was once the passing fancy of People magazine suddenly began firing on all pistons , demanding to be fed a steady flow of angry outbursts and meltdowns and breakups and mishaps”(Havrilesky 447). With technology evolving by the minute, it’s not hard to get footage of celebrities doing bad, good, or something down right stupid. Smart phones change the way of getting the latest scoop on these celebrities. It’s as easy keeping the camera rolling until they do something dumb , and right from your smart phone you can send the pictures or videos to popular tabloids.
Society thirst for the fame of celebrities. They idolize what they do, say, how they dress, what they wear. It has come to the point where you most people disregard the fact that these are still human beings. Just like regular people, they require space and privacy. “…the boundaries of good taste and respect for other human beings were crossed so many times, its taxing to even consider them” (Havrilesky 447).This is why celebrities normal get outranged at the Paparazzi, they never quit. Being in an industry such as this can be tricky because you have boundaries that you a required to stay in, but because of the reward at the other end people normally look passed that. The gossip industry is a business, and many have bought into it. We crave some form of new entertainment constantly. This is why media such a large part of our life today. “Media culture helps shape the prevalent view of the world and its deepest values: it defines what is considered good or bad, positive or negative, moral or evil” (Holtzman 3). This simply means that media has a very large influence on society as whole. Media can be better defined as anything that carries some kind of information. This includes computers, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards and more. So it’s easy for these gossip rags to get their messages out to the gossip cravers quickly. In turn their get large numbers of business from their spiced up gossip stories.
We are moving a direction in which we a the spectators of celebrity mishaps. It’s like a show where we are the audience and the gossip writers are the host , with the celebrities being the main attraction. There is nothing that can go unseen. There is always new stories that gossip magazine want to publish and get the public first. This leaves stars to live such secretive lives. There’s no such thing as a casual walk for celebrities because of the constant flashing lights. Sometimes even in moments of grief, people still see the need to put celebrities in front of a camera. The respect level for these celebrities is at an all-time low and because of the media it will most likely stay that way. “Today’s media-centric maniacs don’t want to be tamed, whether they’re holding the camera or parading in front of it” (Havrilesky 448).
It is evident that society doesn’t have much love for celebrities as people, but instead their fame and status. People crave the lifestyle of those celebrities but for the actually person they care little for. In that case people will hate on the celebrities out of jealously. Hate that is also shown in the gossip magazines. Media will show these celebrities off as perfect people one minute , then try to expose them the next. The popularity for the gossip industry will only increase. Which leaves the privacy for these celebrities to rapidly decrease. As technology as improves the rate of celebrity gossip will also. It turns us into the gossip magazine’s own personal reporters. Making sure there’s not a minute that goes by without a new scoop of celebrity info to rant about. As a society we need to look at how things have changed and the road we a travelling. We can’t fall victim to exposing individuals for personal gain and entertainment. Nor should we go out about envying these celebrities for the fame and status. To ensure that the future is brighter , as a nation we must do more than degrade others for laughs and judgement.

Works Cited

De Backer, Charlotte J. S., and Maryanne L. Fisher. "Tabloids As Windows Into Our Interpersonal Relationships: A Content Analysis Of Mass Media Gossip From An Evolutionary Perspective." Journal Of Social, Evolutionary & Cultural Psychology 6.3 (2012): 404-424. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
Havrilesky, Heather. “ Stalking Celebrities.” Latterell, Cathrine G. ReMix: Reading Composing Culture. Boston: St.Martin 's, 2010. 447-448. Print.
Holtzman, Linda. Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach Us about Race, Class, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.2000. Print
Kitty, Alexandra. Don 't Believe It!: How Lies Become News. New York: Disinformation, 2005. Print.
Roiphe, Katie. "Profiles Encouraged." Latterell, Catherine G. ReMix: Reading Composing Culture. Boston: St.Martin 's, 2010. 440. Print.
"The $3 billion celebrity gossip industry: By the numbers." Times 23 May 2011. The Times. Web. 3 Dec 2013.
Petersen, Anne H. "The Gossip Industry : Producing and Distributing Star Images, Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News 1910-2010." Diss. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011. repositories.lib.utexas. Janet Staiger, 02 June 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
Potter, W. James. Media Effects. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print.
Walls, Jeannette. Dish: The inside Story on the World of Gossip. New York, NY: Spike, 2000. Print.
NEED ONE MORE SOURCE. AND ALTER THE ALREADY EXISTING ONES.

Cited: De Backer, Charlotte J. S., and Maryanne L. Fisher. "Tabloids As Windows Into Our Interpersonal Relationships: A Content Analysis Of Mass Media Gossip From An Evolutionary Perspective." Journal Of Social, Evolutionary & Cultural Psychology 6.3 (2012): 404-424. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. Havrilesky, Heather. “ Stalking Celebrities.” Latterell, Cathrine G. ReMix: Reading Composing Culture. Boston: St.Martin 's, 2010. 447-448. Print. Holtzman, Linda. Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach Us about Race, Class, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.2000. Print Kitty, Alexandra. Don 't Believe It!: How Lies Become News. New York: Disinformation, 2005. Print. Roiphe, Katie. "Profiles Encouraged." Latterell, Catherine G. ReMix: Reading Composing Culture. Boston: St.Martin 's, 2010. 440. Print. "The $3 billion celebrity gossip industry: By the numbers." Times 23 May 2011. The Times. Web. 3 Dec 2013. Petersen, Anne H. "The Gossip Industry : Producing and Distributing Star Images, Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News 1910-2010." Diss. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011. repositories.lib.utexas. Janet Staiger, 02 June 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. Potter, W. James. Media Effects. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print. Walls, Jeannette. Dish: The inside Story on the World of Gossip. New York, NY: Spike, 2000. Print. NEED ONE MORE SOURCE. AND ALTER THE ALREADY EXISTING ONES.