The first magazine I ever read cover-to-cover was People. When I was a kid, the story goes that my parents sprung for a subscription one year as a joint anniversary present (a move I'd highly suggest if you've got a milestone on the horizon). I picked an issue up once on a whim, and that was it. It didn't matter whether I'd heard a celebrity's music or seen their movies. It didn't matter if the stories about their lives were speculative or base. I was obsessed.
At its best, celebrity news is about a lot more than what so-and-so ate or who they're dating. It can reveal what we consider important, or funny, or troubling. Of course, plenty of the time, it doesn't. As Jessica Williams wrote for WIRED in 2014, "there's something missing in all this new new media craziness, and that is something that uses celebrity news as a way to get into a really serious analysis of our culture." Her story, "The World Needs a Smart Gossip Site, and I'm Just the Person to Run It," is both a satirical pitch for how she plans to refashion herself as the next Oprah, and an entirely serious commentary on how you get people thinking and talking meaningfully about the society we live in.
When Williams penned this column, she was halfway through her tenure as the youngest correspondent ever to join The Daily Show. "When they think they're getting dirt, we give them vegetables," she wrote of the show. Since then, she's ascended to full celebrity status, starring in movies and shows and cohosting a popular podcast. I wonder how she'd feel about the advent of a new site devoted to peddling Hollywood gossip now?
More importantly: Do you agree with Williams—and me!—that celebrity news has its merits, or do you think it's all fluff? Would you argue that the internet needs a new outlet devoted to the cause? Let me know in the comments below Williams' story. If enough of you say yes, maybe I'll make a bid to my higher-ups for more Hollywood gossip in the pages of WIRED.
See you next week!
Eve
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