Gossip Columns Aren't What They Used to Be

Posted on April 19, 2006

Gossip columns are very popular in newspapers, but the writers often get slammed for not being "real" journalists. And now that a Page Six columnist was trapped in an FBI sting for extorting money to gain favorable coverage in the the column, the reverberations throughout the industry are just starting. "RealStyle" columnist Patricia McLaughlin analyzes the situation in a column slated for an April 23rd release. Editor and Publisher gives a sneak peek on what she has to say:

McLaughlin, whose column appears in about 100 papers via Universal Press Syndicate, added: "This is may be not so surprising. Many newspaper people -- and plenty of readers, for that matter -- are deeply ambivalent about fluff. It embarrasses them. Journalism is a sacred trust. It's a search for truth. It's the bulwark of democracy.... What does any of that have to do with ... what way-too-blonde movie star was French-kissing what zillionaire industrialist in a dark corner of what ridiculously expensive restaurant last night? Not a thing!" Yet when papers "leave out the fluff," continued McLaughlin, "readers complain."
And this fluff doesn't always meet the journalistic standards most papers strive for in their news pages. McLaughlin noted, by way of example: "A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a survey on spending that ran in Time magazine's spring design supplement. 72% of the people in the survey said they'd spent more than $100 on a handbag. ... Then I read -- in excruciatingly small print -- where it explained that the people in the survey had a median income of $206,300. That's almost five times the median income of all U.S. households. It's inconceivable that Time would base a story on public opinion of the war in Iraq or immigration policy or tax cuts or any other 'serious' subject on so unrepresentative a survey."

McLaughlin also says, "Do most readers know we really mean what we say on the front page and on the editorial page, but that the fluff [including gossip content] that finds its way onto the feature pages isn't meant to be read in quite the same way?"

That's shocking. We believed every fluffy word we read in Page Six and The National Enquirer and always assumed that the highest standard of journalistic ethics applied.