Celebrities and Gossip Essay -- Media Tabloids Journalism Essays

Celebrities and Gossip Have you seen the pictures of Madonna and her baby yet? Have you ever surfed the web and stumbled onto a site about celebrities? Probably so. There are thousands of sites on the web about celebrities; their official web sites, pictorials and biographical information. You can’t even go into a supermarket without being bombarded by tabloids.You can’t listen to the radio in the car. TV shows and whole networks rely on entertainment and celebrities in the news. VH1, MTV and E! are excellent examples of this. Many people make their living off celebrities and their personal lives. But why does this need to be explored? Producers and journalists say they are only making and reporting on what the people want. The general public say they only watch and read this â€Å"news† because it is so readily available. Lets face it, it would be easier to find matches for â€Å"Madonna and her baby â€Å" on the web than it would be to find â€Å"biological engineering†. First, lets define the â€Å"news† which we will be exploring. Sensationalism is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as â€Å"subject matter that is calculated to excite and please vulgar tastes. Also, as the journalistic use of subject matter that appears to vulgar tastes. This can be applied to a variety of news-gathering media. Print: be it newspapers, tabloids, or magazines, audio and visual: be it TV specials, daily and weekly shows, or through the radio with shows such as Howard Stern, or even electronic: through the World Wide Web, can all involve â€Å"the journalistic use of vulgar subject matter†. It is nearly impossible to avoid â€Å"journalistic sensationalism†. But lets focus on a more specific facet of sensationalism. Where do the children of celebrities stand in this issue... ... an anchor for WMAQ, NBC’s news affiliate in Chicago. Marin recently resigned her post after questioning the station’s approach to news coverage. WMAQ took a step toward sensationalism and away from news when it hired tabloid talk show host Jerry Springer to give a nightly commentary on the local news program. Sensational news has no place in today’s media. Her actions are both honorable and understandable. If all journalistics held their values higher and took common decency into account when reporting, then sensational news could be drastically cut back. We as journalists must stand up for what we believe in. The news needs to reamin just that--news. George Clooney said at a press conference supermarket tabloids and television shows have made â€Å"bounty hunters† out of the photographers. He challenged editors to clean up their act or have others do it for them.