This document contains all the exam material for the examination of introduction to journalism studies II (MJCIV). This contains: - all lecture notes - Summary articles - Summary relevant sections Culture News
WEEK 1: HOW CAN WE STUDY COMMON TOPICS IN JOURNALISM STUDIES THROUGH THE
LENS OF CELEBRITY NEWS?
HOORCOLLEGE 1 – INTRODUCTION SESSION:
Lecture focus:
Where do we find celebrities in media and news?
What are the social functions of celebrity?
What is the relation between celebrities and (news) media?
Look at celebrity news in a different point of view.
In the reader you find two texts:
Turner has written a lot about celebrity studies
He tries to answer the question: why are people so interested in celebrity news?
o Celebrity content has become fundamental you see it everywhere. Also in
quality media. You might see them on the NOS.
o Used to be tabloid, now it’s a category found on the media (ex. CNN,
Volkskrant).
Modern celebrity = a product of media representation (Turner, 2010):
There is apparently something that puts this people into public figures
Media interest in activities being transferred from reporting on their public role
to investigating details of their private lives
Stephen Fry: “The propensity to worship idols is not new.”
Public figures Kings. Think of stories about Hamlet.
Think about the colosseum or flavian amphitheatre
Worshipping idols is not new it’s a way of getting away from the ‘daily lives’.
Todd Gitlin:
The familiar stranger is by no means unprecedent in history. People have long
imagined a world populated by figures who were not physically at hand and yet
seemed somehow present.”
What has changed is:
o The magnitude of the flow
o The range of characters that enter our world
o Their omnipresence
o The sheer and number of stories more outlets using these kinds of stories
Question: why is celebrity news in the media social function of celebrities and its relation
to journalism.
Maybe it’s more that you or me enjoying a good story. Maybe it’s something you want to
learn from.
Documentary – Starsuckers – Chris Atkins:
We are convinced that the key of success being famous.
Dit heeft ook te maken met hoe vaak kinderen tv kijken. Hoe vaker ze tv kijken, hoe
eerder ze beroemd willen worden.
However: this document is very critical.
, So, there might be a social function due to celebrity news.
As we’ve seen, there are basis needs: success, strong, beautiful, famous
There is some kind of need to be famous or to attract attention.
Why are celebrities so much in the media?
o Argument 1: everyone can succeed
o Argument 2: everyone wants to be famous
o Argument 3: Follow the leader principle
Lessons:
1. Start them young kinderen moeten van kleins af aan hun talenten ontwikkelen.
2. Keep them hooked kinderen moeren verslaafd blijven
3. Getting information negatief nieuws is nieuws
4. Creating news denk aan de nieuwe media.
Celebrity news is ‘easy’:
Spectacular
Endlessly iterative and renewable doesn’t need much research
Built for rapid news cycles it sells
And for short-form news
Also: celebrity news is a commodity: produced, marketed…..a money machine
The social functions of celebrity (Turner):
Celebrity is a surrogate for social interactions
o We might compensate for changes in the social construction of communities,
para-social interactions.
o Communities gather around tv shows
o The choice on who you want to be with can be triggered by interests and
these interests might be for instance being a Starwars fan.
o Who are you actually interacting with? Who might impact you?
Producing emotional attachments with figures only known through their media
representation. Celebrity culture filling these thoughts.
Interrogation and elaboration of cultural identity
o Celebrity as a source of gossip (social process to debate, evaluate, modify and
share relationships, identity, and social and cultural norms
o Form on debate on how you want to do things
Social and personal identity formation
o Defining oneself, attributing meaning through reading and interpreting the
representation of celebrities.
o You might think: “I want to be like him or her.”
Ideological function
o Identification with certain cultures built around specific value and belief
systems, such as consumer capitalism, democracy and individualism
o Idea of group formation you want to be part of something
Idea: constructing the individual and negotiating social and cultural identities
Integrating function of celebrity
o Celebrity culture filling the gap behind because of the decline in religious
belief systems within Western Cultures
2
, Another argument that you could assign to celebrity news by Stephen Fry “We humans
are naturally disposed to worship gods and heroes, to build our pantheons and valhallas.”
religion
The functions of celebrities in (news) media coverage.
Why study celebrity news?
Using celebrity news coverage as an example to dive into specific themes of interest
in journalism studies.
What do celebrities represent in media coverage
E.g. How are issues of race or gender covered? How are celebrities portrayed by
media? How do media deal with privacy issues? Is there a trend towards more
sensationalism…..how do audiences interpret celebrity texts?
So researching celebrities in media coverage is to introduce you to the tools which will help
you to analyze topics of interest in the field of media and journalism studies academically.
Production side research angles studying the industries which produce celebrity as
common regulation studies, ownership structures
Audience side research angles news reception, fan cultures or media product
consumption and its cultural / social effects
Content side research angles look on how celebrity news is framed. Study them as
texts.
Research angles between the content and the production studying sensationalism or
ethical questions in celebrity news.
Research angles between the production and the audience studying PR and spin on
celebrity news. Effects on consumers.
STEPHEN FRY – THE FRY CHRONICLES, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
Stephen Fry admits that he did everything to become famous. He also mentions reasons why
celebrities are important:
1. We humans are naturally disposed to worship gods and heroes, to build or
pantheons and valhallas. So, the importance of celebrity news has a long history.
2. Everyone has a desire to be like a celebrity
3. The kind of people who most object to the childishness and cheapness of celebrity
culture are the people who chose Mozart over Miley Cyrus. However, you don’t have
to chose. You can chose both.
The problem is that not everybody worships celebrity, but they want it for themselves.
TURNER – UNDERSTANDING CELEBRITY:
The contemporary celebrity:
will usually have emerged from the sports or entertainment industries
will be highly visible in the media
celebrity’s fame does not depend on the position or achievements that gave them
prominence in the first instance. But: the prominence developed within that initial
location
3
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