Rebecca Fishman Writing 111 Professor Case 5 March 2013 Breaking News!

How often have you put the word news in the Google search bar, and hit enter? If you havent recently, perhaps you should go try it now. Im waiting. Done already? Yeah, I know, the typical news sources came upCNN, Fox, NBC.so why dont you try clicking on one? When I did this, I picked CNN, and I have to say that looking at the front page of a reputable news source has never been so disappointing! Seeing titles such as "Shaq: 'I'm the world's tallest geek'" and "Justin Timberlake's bringing tofu back" on CNNs homepage did little to enthrall me. Rather, seeing such soft news only pushed me to exit out of the page and go back to watching TV. I have seen enough celebrity gossip for the day, thank you very much. Obviously people disagree with my personal criticism of celebrity gossip. After all, if it didnt attract attention, then news sources wouldnt publish it. However, does popularity make a news source credible, and how does this brand of soft news affect other news articles? It is the perceived lack of credibility of these articles, coupled with their distracting nature that makes celebrity gossip dangerous to the intelligence of the audience that it attracts. It is a simple fact that only 32% of Americans have conveyed confidence in the quality of the media. Out of every known country in the modern world, this leaves the United States as one of the 15 countries with the lowest trust in the quality and integrity of the media (English). Even in times of political activity, many people have commented that they were unhappy with the media! Such an example is the fairly recent president election, in which polls have shown a

general dissatisfaction with the availability of accurate and fair coverage of the election (Morales). While there is so much dissatisfaction with the media, even during a newsworthy time period, the question comes up as to why the general public has so little confidence in the media as it is presented today. Simply put, in order to have such a low satisfaction rating during times of political unrest as well as the everyday, something wrong must be going on! There has to be a problem, or the lower level of interest in news would not be a negative trend, spiraling downwards while the quantity of hard news only decreases as well. So what is the media doing to be seen as unreliable? From a personal standpoint, it is easy for me to say that the amount of real newshard newspales in comparison to the sheer quantity of soft news, such as celebrity gossip. After all, if the press has blurred the boundaries between news which is soft and hard, tabloid and straight [it] result[s] in no perceptible differences between them when judged in terms of credibility (Fischoff). Because Justin Timberlake and Tofu is presented on the same front page as murders and the like, the credibility of both news types is blended, altering the perception of all those who see them both there. Not only does this phenomenon explain the large dissatisfaction with media in America today, but it presents how celebrity articles actually defer the population from believing hard news by damaging its credibility. If Americans cant trust their news sources for the facts, where can they go to become informed of daily happenings? Im inclined to say nowhere. This leaves a large percentage of the population uninformed, therefore hurting the intelligence of the audience. Breaking News: Katie Holmes Wears Distracting Necklace in Bobbi Browns First Celebrity Campaign! I kid you not, thats the name of My Dailys top story of the day. How is that not distracting? Because yes, Im going to look at an article about what the leader of North Korea said when I see such a big, long title in giant letters. It stares you down with its capturing

first two words; seeing that as the top news article rather than world affairs makes me wonder if we care at all. Does any of this matter? If my reaction doesnt prove that titles, let along celebrity articles, are distracting, then maybe some hard facts will. The results of a world-wide poll indicate that only 31.6% of the population does not follow celebrity news. In fact, 24% of people view it only because it catches their attention (Do you follow). Keep in mind that not only do the majority of respondents68.4%afollow such news, but it also means that about a third of these people admit to only doing so because celebrity news is so incessant. Basically, they didnt plan on doing it, but it became a distraction. If you still dont believe me, let me throw some more facts at you. The public was also polled on what issues got too much attention from the media, as cited by Too Much Celebrity News, Too Little Good News, and as it turns out, 40% of the people polled responded that the news media pays too much heed to Hollywood gossip. Oh, but wait, 40% isnt a majority! While this may seem to be so, its noteworthy that seven other issues were presented in the same poll, but none of them hit past 12%. Combining all of these statistics, it seems that the majority of the public not only follows celebrity news, but that these people are also aware that they are doing so. They crave real news while at the same time not supporting it. Although the public wants to learn by nature, people are naturally distracted by the gossip popping out on every news page, in every news cast, and floating throughout the other places in their lives. In essence, celebrity news keeps the general public from purposing knowledge, and therefore dumbs down the population. As a child of the recent technology boom, I have had the pleasure of watching my parents and grandparents fall into the soft media trap. My father in particular was always a man of the news. He lived for the stories of the world, and so I grew up watching them with him. However, our days of watching the news were forever changed the day that when he discovered stories

online. Factual stories slowly transitioned to fluff about dogs and other animals, and I found myself having less and less serious conversations with my father. He could no longer help me with my homework, and he could no longer outwit me about political matters. My grandfather soon took the adopted a similar path, falling into the electronic trap. Instead of following news, he became obsessed with knowing about the latest gadget. Now, at the age of 18, I know more about Supreme Court cases and breaking news than my lawyer-by-day, nearly-eighty-year-oldman-by-night grandfather. Even though it is part of my grandfathers job description to know of such happenings, he is no longer as interested. This may not sound related to celebrity news, but let me assure you right now: they both know who Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and other celebrities are. In fact, my own father knows more about actors and celebrities than I do. Both my father and grandfather have expressed their wish to become informed, while at the same instance using their free time to revel in the softer side of news. It has become increasingly clear to me that entertainment has taken over in not only the time allotted for news in the lives of my father and grandfather, but in my life as well. I am not immune to the celebrity distraction, and it is this revelation that gives this issue such precedence in my mind. I am part of that uninformed sector. I would rather read the celebrity news than the hard hitting facts, and I make excuses for this. I often think, Oh, I dont have enough time for that! Or I had a hard day, I deserve an intellectual break. And so I only look at current events when it suites my needs, and I research what happened in past months to sound more informed than I truly am. I am a college student; I am the bearer of relatively good grades; I am a Jonny Depp fan; I am uninformed, and I am distracted. Celebrity gossip invades the fabric of everyday life, tearing apart the credibility of newsworthy stories by attracting attention while blurring the lines of soft and hard news, and

distracting the general public from factual stories. These phenomenon simultaneously discredit facts and steer people away from them, lowering the awareness of all those who sacrifice information for entertainment. In the long run, these facts crowd the mind and, like with my grandfather, replace secular knowledge. The old information gathers dust while the new garners conversation and therefore more interest, popularity building on popularity. No one is safe from the pitfall of celebrity gossip. But you know the facts now, and you must do what many dont have the will to: kick the soft news habit and save yourself.

Works Cited "Do you follow celebrity news (about actors, popular TV personalities, etc)?." Social Statistics. N.p.. Web. 30 Mar 2013. <http://postyour.info/statistics/do-you-follow-celebritynews.htm>. English, Cynthia. "Quality and Integrity of Worlds Media Questioned." Gallup World. Gallup, 17 Dec 2007. Web. 17 Mar 2013. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/103300/QualityIntegrity-Worlds-Media-Questioned.asp>. Fischoff, Stuart. "Percieved Credibility of News Sources as a Function of News Focus." . California State University, n.d. Web. 19 Mar 2013. <http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/newsrev.html>. Jones, Katie. "Breaking News: Katie Holmes Wears Distracting Necklace In Bobbi Brown's First Celebrity Campaign." My Daily. Aol, 8 Jan 2013. Web. 30 Mar 2013. Morales, Lymari. "U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High." Gallup World. Gallup, 21 Sept 2012. Web. 17 Mar 2013. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/157589/distrust-media-hits-newhigh.asp>. "Too Much Celebrity News, Too Little Good News." Pew Research Center. Pew, 12 Oct 2007. Web. 30 Mar 2013. <http://www.people-press.org/2007/10/12/too-much-celebrity-newstoo-little-good-news/>.