I'll admit that celebrity news is extremely entertaining, and anything Britney Spears related is even more so. However, how appropriate or newsworthy is Spear's shaved head? Apparently newsworthy enough for ABC to send reporters to the tattoo parlour Spears was at.
See the video!
An hour-long television program is often reduced to 43 minutes after commercial breaks. Of those 43 minutes, two minutes were wasted on this "new story." A celebrity mindlessly cutting or shaving their hair does not deserve to be news when those two minutes of airtime could have been better substituted with fair coverage over Bush's funding for American troops or updates on the 2008 presidential campaigns.
Network news that are ratings-driven force news stations to provide celebrity fodder to attract viewers. If I wanted to my news to be Entertainment Tonight or Hollywood True Stories, I would turn to those channels. For now, I recommend simply turning the TV off.
e banks @ Thu, 02/22/2007 - 11:03am
Every person I talk to about this says how 'tired' they are of celebrity news, how their lives are 'empty' and the value we put on celebs is 'meaningless'. Well, apparently that's not the case for the majority of society. I can't say I blame anyone - even I find that p*r*z h*lt*n stuff amusing and endlessly addicting - but the attention to detail surrounding these people's lives is unsettling, and a fairly new phenomenon. I mean, there have always been paparazzi, but celebrities in the 20's and 30's could keep their careers afloat even the midst of a scandal because there was a little something called privacy. With the internet, video, and digital photography, we've begun to scrutinize these people more than ever, and what is the result? After a decade in the spotlight, they crack, crash and burn. What is it going to take for all of us to wake up and simply stop caring? To realize, as a collective human concious, that these are people and that they deserve some privacy?
I actually feel bad for Britney, because I can't help but feel that I'm partly to blame. Sure I may have never met her, or even been within a hundred miles from her, but I've laughed at her every fumble since she's stepped out of the gate. I hope she gets her sh*t in gear and gets well. If anything, for her kids sake.