The Associated Press: New movie takes aim at celebrity journalism - The Diigo Meta page

• 18 Nov 09
  

  Cass Yeap

  celebrities star suckers

  • used without fact-checking
  • culture of celebrity has undermined journalistic standards and warped society's values
  • society's obsession with fame — gaining it and being near it — has distorted everything from the way news is reported to our children's aspirations
  • big companies in entertainment, media and PR use that desire to create a world full of insatiable consumers
  • reality television — the way such shows distort reality and stretch the limits of what people will do to be on TV
  • News of the World journalist was jailed for illegally hacking into the phones of royal officials
  • entertainment reporter to editor of The News of the World and the Daily Mirror.
  • Piers Morgan
  • fired by the Mirror — for

    running fake photos of British soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqis

  7 more annotations...

• 28 Oct 09
  

  Tom McHale
  • Starsuckers," which premieres Wednesday at the London Film Festival, takes aim  at Britain's fiercely competitive tabloid press, but its real target is much  broader. Atkins believes that society's obsession with fame — gaining it and  being near it — has distorted everything from the way news is reported to our  children's aspirations.
• 

  Amped Status

  What do Amy Winehouse's flaming beehive and Guy Ritchie's self-inflicted black eye have in common? Both stories appeared in the pages of Britain's tabloid press. Neither is true. The two incidents were fake showbiz news tips phoned into newspapers by the makers of the new documentary "Starsuckers," to see whether they would be used without fact-checking. The fact that they were forms part of the movie's argument that the culture of celebrity has undermined journalistic standards and warped society's values. "I didn't realize quite how much of our news is public relations, or lies, or on the basis of criminal acts," said the film's 33-year-old director, Chris Atkins. "Starsuckers," which premieres Wednesday at the London Film Festival, takes aim at Britain's fiercely competitive tabloid press, but its real target is much broader. Atkins believes that society's obsession with fame — gaining it and being near it — has distorted everything from the way news is reported to our children's aspirations.

  Movies

• 27 Oct 09
  

  Joseph Grigoletti
  • Yes, we had moral qualms, but I firmly believe we're doing it for the wider point. There was subterfuge involved to serve a wider public interest."

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