The Rise Of TMZ & The Celebritification Of Media

I read Jon Fine's column about the insane growth of TMZ and couldn't help but ponder what this expanding obsession with celebrity screw ups means to youth culture. According to the article, "In September, TMZ.com notched 10.5 million unique U.S. visitors, dwarfing its entertainment-news rivals. In fact, the site, which is co-owned by Time Warner (TWX )units AOL and Telepictures, ranked No. 5 among all news sites, besting all nonportals save for CNN and MSNBC."

Viewing this through a media literacy lens, you could argue that in some ways it umasks celebrities, often used to sell any number of products or youth oriented content, knocking them off their pedestals. You could also say it offers a morality tale of how fame, fortune and being surrounded by enablers can ruin young stars. Or that it shows how anything you say or do can be caught on tape (especially when you're hounded by paparazzi) and spread virally online.

But the tone of a lot of the coverage is definitely smug -- TMZ executes it "take downs" a lot less nastily than sites like Perez Hilton or other more vicious Hollywood gossip blogs, but it still perpetuates the "culture of mean" where we all get to laugh at people's mistakes and make fun of them with abandon. I was reading one of the countless Britney entries on PopSugar and so many of the comments were just stinging, calling her white trash, a whore, etc. etc. In a media culture that is so worried about teens cyber-bullying each other, it's ironic that the media can perpetuate meanness on a more macro level. Monkey see. Monkey do.

The biggest downside to the celebritification of news is that in many ways it's becoming another opiate of the people. By being able to focus on Britney's latest missed drug test, we don't have to think about young soldiers being blown up daily in Iraq and certainly don't have to do anything about it. It allows all of us to disengage from the real headlines that can be overwhelming and depressing as well as the daunting reality of what it would take to bring about real change. When that feeling arises, it's just so easy to check in on the latest fallen star and to forget about a world that feels out of control.

Comments

[Alvin4NY]

Making TMZ mainstream had a lot to do with Harvey Levin being used so much on Larry King when Anna Nicole died. Put the blame there...on Larry and his producers. (Who have now allowed Levin to fill in for Larry when he's not hosting..) Stop watching both.

[Libsrule]

I watched about 5 minutes total on TMZ and was just appalled. Stalking stars for no other reason than to try and find a way to dis them.

Just appalling.

Further proof of the fall and decline of western civilization.

[ihavenobias]

It's sad but true.

So much of what used to be news has been replaced with infotainment BS. There used to be a firewall for tv/radio networks between their news and sales departments.

But starting with Reagan (and later with Clinton and the FCC Telecom Act of 1996) these standards were relaxed or eliminated, and diverse opinion and real news became much more ratings driven and standardized.

CBS was the first major network to bring it's news department under the umbrella of its entertainment department (all accountable to sales).

To an extent, I get it, running a business requires that you increase profits and if replacing a story on stagnating wages with the latest Brittney Blooper gets them, that's what they'll run with.

But at some point we need to remember and understand how right Thomas Jefferson was when he said we couldn't have a democracy without informed citizens. His goal seems much further away, in large part due to the sad state of today's media.

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