Press Clippings:
Editors Note: This piece was initially published in 2015. Given the current communications landscape, it seems appropriate to republish it now. If nothing else, it will give you a very solid understanding of how we got to where we are.
You can’t escape the avalanche of good news, bad news, fake news, snarky viewpoints, “gotcha” moments, downplay, upsell, pure hype, alternative facts, and forced adulation. Our trusted sources for trusted news now include Gossip, pumped up on digital steroids and grown from a back page list of blind-items and not-so-blind innuendos to network television shows, front-counter tabloids, Sunday morning talk shows, internet swipes and hypes via Twitter and Instagram.
Gossip has become another channel of news and the news may be right or it may be dangerously wrong, but it’s in your face, there for the taking (and commenting) 24 hours a day. Amplified by the easy access and ready anonymity of digital communications (smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) gossip is becoming the news source we all often too often believe, despite the lack of fact checking.
For an interesting overview of the world of commercial gossip, take a look at this exceptional feature from The Hollywood Reporter . It’s so appropriate that this piece came from THR, because Hollywood (for commercial reasons ) and New York publishing (also for commercial reasons, i.e. to sell papers) are both two of the gossip world’s most accomplished and experience practitioners. But even those two centers of the un-sourced whisper, were shocked at the speed with which gossip blew into the mainstream, given an incalculable boost by the reach and access of the internet.
Interesting article, from THR, and one that needs to be read. More to come on gossip at a later date, but in the meantime, a crash course in the current state of the art is just a click away.
The Fine Print: The article link (“The New Gossip Culture”) is via TheHollywoodReporter.com . We thank them for sharing.