Kate McNee ’11
Head Copy Editor
“Catfight!”
We’ve all seen these magazine headlines at grocery stores. Many of us have either discreetly and quickly flipped through the magazine to the cover story so no one would see, or been so pathetically interested in the story that we actually bought the magazine.
Each time, we know we shouldn’t buy it. We are all aware how sad it is that we’re wasting our money on this garbage. We also dread the gaze of the check-out woman or man whom we are convinced thinks we’re a small-minded airhead, but nonetheless, we still buy it.
I was sadly this person, yes…just a month ago. I would always look forward to those 30 minutes where I could fall on to the couch, forget about the world around me, and read an entire magazine front to back.
I loved the juicy gossip too much.
What made me start to dislike it, or begin to “see the light,” as I say now, was the incessant reporting of Jon and Kate Gosselin.
Everything about the coverage of them just began to gross me out. For starters, the headlines to stories about them were absurdly overdone. Statements like “Catfight!” were written in big, bold letters on the front of the magazines.
The fact that someone had considered a fight, which probably didn’t even happen, headline-news and exclamation-mark worthy made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Really, I could not get over the fact that someone actually took the word “catfight” seriously.
The sheer number of stories about them was irritating. The magazines were clearly running out of material, because every time I went into the grocery store there was another Jon and Kate headline awaiting me. I wanted to tell the magazines covering them to stop bothering Jon and Kate, because I don’t find the Jon and Kate stuff interesting anymore.
In general, it just got me thinking about the arguments concerning celebrity media coverage that I had intentionally thrown out the window before.
First off, I’ve realized the paparazzi are way too nosy and invade too many celebrities’ privacy.
So many stars who do not tell the paparazzi that they can take their photo, and who even explicitly tell the paparazzi to leave them alone, are nonetheless stalked. I really don’t understand how they get away with this when it violates so many basic rights.
People should be allowed to live free lives without being followed by cameras all day: it’s bothersome and disrupts day to day activities.
Even more, celebrities should not have to put up with rude paparazzi that are so desperate for a story that they intentionally provoke them.
No one can forget about the “Sonic” incident, when Britney Spears put on a Halloween mask and tossed Sonic shakes at nearby paparrazi.
These paparazzi don’t only focus on the celebrities but also their children. All right, celebrities choose to be a celebrity, so they know that they’re gonna be in the spotlight or whatever, but their children don’t.
Celebrity children are constantly compared and followed, and have to face much more scrutiny and judgment at a much younger age than their peers. Essentially, they pay the price for having famous parents.
As for the stories and pictures that these paparazzi attacks are used for, many of them are untrue, or at least clearly stretched.
It’s so easy to see when writers have tried to make a story make sense, putting it together with all sorts of threads and indirect sources. Many times, a picture is taken and context is made for it- think Robert Patterson with Camille Bell, which the tabloids boast as the “today’s hottest couple.” This again violates rights and is just plain poor journalism.
Basically, the whole business of it is just very sad. Covering celebrities is a complete waste, for no one needs to read about the lives of those who will never affect them and that they will probably never even meet.
The only reason that it exists, and that it is quickly growing, is because people like to read about celebrities, and therefore, the business is extremely profitable. For instance, on television, the celebrity-focused shows “The Insider,” “Inside Edition,” “Access Hollywood” and “Extra!,” reach more than 100 million people a week.
Having the right celebrity and the right headline can increase readership, and, therefore, profit, and that’s all the business cares about.
Because of all these reasons, I have stopped reading these gossip magazines. I do not want to feed into a business which I find disgusting and pointless.
I was actually extremely proud last week when my friend told me something new about the whole Kate Gosselin versus Hailey Glassman fiasco and I hadn’t had any idea about it.
