The important role of celebrity culture in journalism have generated studies over the past years, one of it is Snyder’s (2003) journal article. He notes on how celebrity shows has replaced the prime time televisions and that the reporter were infiltrating the celebrity’s private lives. Michael Jackson’s death has put the spotlight on Conrad Murray. His case has been broadcasted on three media, MTV, Sydney Morning Herald and SkyNEWS, with his personal emotion is publicly shown.
Snyder, R.W. (2003). American Journalism and the Culture of Celebrity. Reviews in American History, 31(3), 440-448.
Robert W Snyder is an Associate Professor of Rutgers’ Graduate Program in American Studies and an Associate Professor in Department of Arts, Cultures and Media (Rutgers, n.d.). Since 1980, he has worked with journalists, museum curators, and documentarians (Rutgers, n.d.). With his experiences in American media, Snyder wrote a journal article which is also an annotation about the culture of celebrity in American Journalism. This journal article is based on Ponce de Leon (2002)’s book. Snyder noted on the power of journalism over celebrity, turning Michael Jackson as irresponsible parents and prime time television into a group of celebrity shows. Since early 1900’s, celebrity has been a culture in American Journalism. Reporters were and are following the celebrity’s private life. Many journalists today believe that their task is to inform the “powerless” and supervise the “powerful”. These journalists believed that they are hindered by celebrity journalists, especially after 9/11, and wishes to return journalism into traditional journalism. This piece offers a general idea about celebrity and journalist. It is regrettable, however, that Snyder does not explain on how the celebrity has become a root on American journalism and how the 9/11 deeply impacted celebrity journalism. This piece, however, thoroughly explore the significance of celebrity culture on American journalism.
Kaufman, G. (2011, October 26). Michael Jackson Doctor Brought To Tears By Former Patients’ Testimony. MTV. Retrieved from http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673244/michael-jackson-trial-conrad-murray-patients.jhtml.
Gil Kaufman is a senior writer at MTV (LinkedIn, n.d.). He also worked as the Editorial Director of Cincinnati Art Museum, A&E Editor in Cincinnati Enquirer and Senior Writer or Senior Editor at Sonicnet or Addicted to Noise (LinkedIn, n.d.). Having been working as celebrity journalists for more than the past 10 years, Kaufman covers the news about Michael Jackson’s doctor’s trial. He reports how Conrad Murray cried when his defense team brought five witnesses to trial with the purpose of attesting Murray’s skill as a physician. When one witness said that he is alive thanks to the doctor in front of him, Murray cried. The author gives a detailed report on the trial and successfully investigates the available information. The problem is how he presents this information. In spite of writing a news article, Kaufman wrote his article in dot points. Each dot points consist of a paragraph at the length of fifty to more than one hundred words which represent a scene of the trial. His writing technique is efficient but not engaging. It is written like a memo rather than a news article. The author, however, manages to take his target audience into consideration by using simple language instead of technical language. The date in which it was published is also appraisable, it was published faster than the others.
Sydney Morning Herald. (2011, October 27). Jackson doc moved to tears by testimony. Retrieved from http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/jackson-doc-moved-to-tears-by-testimony-20111027-1mlc9.html
Sydney Morning Herald is a newspaper published by Fairfax Media. This particular article is published in their website. Similar to the previous news article, Sydney Morning Herald also cover how Conrad Murray shed tears after his witnesses defend him. In this piece, the story focuses on Ruby Mosley, an old woman who was a witness in Murray’s trial. She testified that Murray is not greedy for serving senior citizens with fixed incomes. Her testimony brought Murray into tears. The other four witnesses also noted Murray’s kindness; one of them even claims that Murray is his best friend. Compared to the previous article, this article is more compelling and more fleshed out. Rather than presenting all the information obtained, this article linked each of its information into a story. The focus is not all over the place but to an old woman whose testimony makes Murray cry. This article manages to bring emotions from its characters to life. Each of the characters was described well and the reader could easily picture the trial in their mind. This news article is a very compelling article indeed.
Gardner, D. (2011, October 27). Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053960/Michael-Jackson-trial-Conrad-Murray-weeps-patients-rush-defence.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
David Gardner is a crime writer and senior foreign correspondent for the Daily Mail (uFollow, n.d.). On 27 of October 2011, Gardner wrote about Murray’s tears on trial. In his article, he quoted each of the witnesses’ testimonies about Murray. Unlike the previous articles, he provides more photos including photos of each witness and several shoots of Murray’s expressions. He also provides captions for each photo. Compared to the other two articles, his article is more eye-catching; however, is not as compelling as Sydney Morning Herald’s article. He uses adjectives as little as possible and is less descriptive of the characters expressions and surrounding. His article is not bad, in fact, it is a good article, but it fall out of favor compared to Sydney Morning Herald’s (2011) article. Another problem is probably how he ends his story. He put the last sentence in separate paragraph consisting of three words ‘The trial continues’. This ending seemed to be left out and unfinished.
References:
Gardner, D. (2011, October 27). Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053960/Michael-Jackson-trial-Conrad-Murray-weeps-patients-rush-defence.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Kaufman, G. (2011, October 26). Michael Jackson Doctor Brought To Tears By Former Patients’ Testimony. MTV. Retrieved from http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673244/michael-jackson-trial-conrad-murray-patients.jhtml.
LinkedIn. (n.d.). Gil Kaufman. Retrieved from http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gil-kaufman/5/299/4a4.
Ponce de Leon, C. L. (2002). Self-Exposure: Human-Interest Journalism and the Emergence of Celebrity in America. Chapel Hill: University of North California Press.
Rutgers. (n.d.). Robert W. Snyder. Retrieved from http://americanstudies.newark.rutgers.edu/staff/rsnyder.htm
Snyder, R.W. (2003). American Journalism and the Culture of Celebrity. Reviews in American History, 31(3), 440-448.
Sydney Morning Herald. (2011, October 27). Jackson doc moved to tears by testimony. Retrieved from http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/jackson-doc-moved-to-tears-by-testimony-20111027-1mlc9.html
uFollow. (2011). David Gardner. Retrieved from http://www.ufollow.com/authors/david.gardner.1/
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