Journalistic Responsibilities in Reality TV Kate Juanengo
Journalistic Responsibilities in Reality TV
Kate Juanengo
Why cover reality-celebrities?
Why cover reality-celebrities cont’dThe relationship between journalists
and celebrities is symbiotic.They need exposure, we need storiesLine between PR and true
entertainment journalism often blurred
Journalists need to be as responsible as possible so they don’t report made up rumors as news
Walter WinchellColumnist at New York Daily Mirror
who invented modern gossip in the 1920s
Understood the powerful subtext of gossip as a form of empowerment (Gabler)
Gossip was a form of democratization – a great leveler. It demonstrated that the celebrated were no better than the rest of us and sometimes much worse (Gabler)
Walter Winchell, cont’dHad his own way of reporting
celebrity newsDictator of Contemporary SlangInfanticipating / Getting Storked
= ?Garbo-ing it = ?Adam-and-Eveing it = ?
Walter Winchell cont’dAt the height of his career (late
1940s), Winchell’s column appeared in 2,000 papers & his radio program top-rated on the air (Weinraub)
Transformed journalism by covering the private lives of the famous
He humanized celebrities – but then, what is our fascination with reality-celebrities?
Perspective!
InformationThink: behind-the-scenesJournalism can interrupt the flow of reality-celebrities’ lives
Episodes vs. Now
Vicki Hyman, Star-Ledger columnist“You have a show like The Hills where
what’s on television, which happened 3 or 6 months ago, becomes news even though it happened 6 months ago. And there’s confusion because now you know the storyline outside of the TV shows because it’s news. Real life seems to overtake the show”
Journalists fill in the gap between filming and air date
Remaining EthicalIt’s easy to have AND EXPRESS an
opinion about who should have won American Idol, or why Trump hired his latest Apprentice
People see reality television as frivolous & trivial
Journalists can easily be fans of their subject matter
Need to keep biases out of reporting and stay accurate & responsible
Kathy Dzielak, Asbury Park Press editor“Like people who cover politicians
are voters as well, there’s no getting around journalists being human beings. That’s something journalists are faced with every day – covering certain beats and hopefully not letting preference influence their coverage.”
Dilemmas – What do we do?Being the first to know Status and
Power within social groupsPeople position themselves as gossip
gatekeepers and seek to present themselves as figures of celebrity authority (Feasey)
Journalists can identify with this!Can’t sacrifice fact-checking to be the
first to know
What do we do? Cont’dSome people consider reality-celebrity
coverage to be unimportant and irrelevant.
Yet, tabloids and entertainment media are thriving
They are newsworthy!It doesn’t matter if people think reality-
celebrity coverage is trivial, it still demands the same ethical standards.
Conclusion“They’re newsworthy like any other
person might be in sports or politics. People want to read about them because they become part of their lives … Especially in these recessionary times, there’s a vicarious pleasure to be derived from [reading about] rich and famous people. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” – Kathy Dzielak