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