Investigative journalism is a calling card here at Fort Worth Weekly, where we strive to peer deep into the destabilizing cracks that can stagger the foundations upon which freedom and democracy are built.
So thank the ghost of Hedda Hopper for the latest investigative journalist to swagger down the alley – GossipCop.com.
A US Weekly “news” director was on TV this morning saying Americans are tired of getting false gossip about celebrities, and so he created GossipCop.com to “police” the industry. Today’s stories are about Katie Holmes, who apparently did not blow up in a car on a movie set, and Jennifer Lopez, who apparently wasn’t a controlling diva beeyotch at her latest party (can’t all you backstabbers just leave Jenny alone!?!).
Freedom depends on a prying press, so I applaud GossipCop.com, which is now the “go-to destination for credible celebrity news” and will separate “fact from fiction,” according to its web site, which as of a minute ago had one, single, lonely reader comment on its site:
“From Ellen at July 29, 2009 at 9:12 am
Why can’t people leave the celebrities alone to live their own life. I am tired of all the lies.”
I too, Ellen, am tired of all the lies. We all are, we all are… .
Jeff,
So do you think Mr. Murrow would really care whether will.i.am punched Perez Hilton or whether Tom Cruise paid a male porn star to wrestle with him? If you think your freedoms hinge on such trivialities then may I suggest that perhaps you are to Journalism what Lady GaGa is to Real Music.
Professor Buddy
You’d think a professor would understand satire.
Many people think that electronic communication is like a face-to-face conversation, forgetting that tone of voice and body language are not conveyed by the message. Humor, satire and parody are easily mistaken for serious comments, and vice versa.
Thus, it is incumbent on the writer to not assume that the reader will guess what tone is intended, and to be fair it is incumbent on the reader to be open-minded about the tone the author intended. Keep in mind that Professor Buddy had a certain amount of satire in his comments as well.
OK Professor Buddy, this battle was fought to a draw. I look forward to future electronic skirmishes, as they do tend to break up the monotony of the day.