by Jess Shanahan

Created on: July 31, 2009

Do Tabloids Go Too Far On Celebrity Stories?

You get used to seeing outrageous stories on the front of news papers and a lot of us just gloss over them or take then with a pinch of salt. It seems that tabloid newspapers are losing their credibility when it comes to giving us the news.

Celebrity

If the news involves a celebrity and something they've said about wanting to get back with an ex it is likely that is not the case. It is more likely that the celebrity in question said that they enjoyed the time they had spent with their ex and that there were no hard feelings. This of course is not that interesting and certainly won't lure readers into the buying the paper because the celebrity has been nice. However, the realisation that this celebrity believes that splitting up with their partner was a mistake maybe a global exclusive.

This sort of paraphrasing and reading between the lines of the interviewee is often what gets tabloid papers into trouble. All the stories of the papers doing this also leads readers to sometimes take them as a joke and certainly not to believe anything they read.

Paparazzi

These pushy photographers are often the reasons that celebrities get charged with assault, their pushy attitude and invading of personal space had been known to make various celebrities very hot under the collar and sometimes violent. Yet, still the world craves that picture of Lily Allen going to the supermarket with no makeup on and the Paparazzi hang out outside every celebrity house, hang out and restaurant they can find just so they can glimpse these people acting normal or doing something awful.

New

Because of the lack of trust in the tabloid papers even news stories have to be taken lightly, if a paper can't report about the mundane life of an A-lister without bending the truth then who is to say that they aren't doing the same with the news. It seems that it has become habit for the tabloids to lie their way into great, engaging stories whilst pestering celebrities for the images to go with them.

The Readers

People still read these papers simply because reading about a celebrity that has not shaved their armpits is much more exciting than looking at the real world. Celebrities are real people but glossy media, television and movies never depict them in such a way. From seeing celebrities going about their day to day work we see them airbrushed, made up and styled to perfection, this isn't how they are in their day to day lives and showing them so makes readers feel better about their own appearances so the fact that what is being written about them might not be true doesn't really matter as it is entertaining.

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