Annotated Bibliography

Journal Article:

Johansson, S. (2008). Gossip, sport and pretty girls. Journalism Practise, 2(3), 402-413. doi: 10.1080/17512780802281131

This document is a journal article which challenges the traditional perspective that tabloids and the simplification of media trivialise journalism by analysing the readership of trivial media and its political and cultural values through interviews with fifty five regular readers of two British tabloids, both female and male. This journal argues that tabloids provide an interlude from day to day struggles by providing entertainment and also serve as an attack on power elites whilst also bringing together the community through the building of common interests. The values of journalism that this journal presents tabloids to employ are the values of human interest and of celebrity, sport and power elite – which are seen as trivial but are ingrained into the public agenda and therefore in demand especially for commercial media as the larger viewership they get, the better business they become. The value of this journal is that it considers a new angle to the tabloidization of media and calls on legitimate sources such as the readers of the media to draw conclusions. However, as it only considers tabloids from the angle that it furthers public interest; the impression upon the reader is bias.

Podcast:

Scarlett Johansson Nude Photos Leaked. (2011, September 15).Podcast404. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXRj_upLvM

This document is an audio podcast by a citizen journalist through youtube on the Scarlet Johansson nude photograph leak scandal. Although seemingly unprofessional, the story highlights the celebrity angle of the scandal, referring to other cases where a similar incident has occurred. The reporter also gives context to Scarlet Johansson as an actress and a partial description of the photographs in question. However, the crude content and the some of the vulgar language used when describing the photographs in the report undermine the journalistic ethics in this story. As the reporter does not provide a name or references, the content and research of the information is questionable and cannot be relied upon. The news values upheld in this story are celebrity and bad news, spun from the angle that being a celebrity means that such bad incidents happen. The reporter interestingly invites audience participation at the end of the podcast asking for their opinion on the matter, thereby increasing the interest for the listeners through interactivity. Overall, although the podcast was not very credible and the source could not be relied on, the information was clear and relevant to the listeners.

Television:

Holt, D. (Performer) (2011). Tmz : Scarlett johansson private photos leaked [Television series episode]. In Holt, D. (Executive Producer), TMZ. Rhode Island: FOX Providence. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUcqdtz4slY

This document is part of a clip of video from Fox Providence, reported by Dax Holt who is also the producer, which covers scandal of Scarlett Johansson’s nude photograph leakage from the angle of the involvement of the lawyers and the containment of the issue at the time of the incident in 2011. The reporter places emphasis on the gravity of the scandal, mentioning the unusually strong reaction of websites that usually ignore lawyers and referring to this incident as one part in a larger social problem for celebrities, listing various incidents where celebrities have been hacked and had their content leaked onto the internet. Although the content of the story is scandalous, the focus of this report was not the nude photos but on the lawyers and their involvement in keeping the damage minimal. The journalistic ethics of this story are in good taste, although by the focus being on less scandalous topics, the story is sacrificing some viewership. However, the news value of celebrity and powerful people, combined with the credibility of a known television company, namely FOX, make this story a source of public interest and the presentation of this issue as one of many similar cases of celebrity hacking magnifies the problem and therefore the story so there is still potential for large audience interest.

  

Online Article:

Smart, G. (2012, May 20). Scarlett Johansson’s naked pics jitters. The Sun. Retrieved from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/4327429/Avengers-Assemble-star-Scarlett-Johansson-still-fears-that-people-have-seen-her-naked.html

This document is an online text article from the British tabloid newspaper ‘The Sun’. It is a brief superficial article containing one quote from the Scarlett Johansson about her on going distress over her nude photographs being leaked to the media by a hacker on her phone and the scandal that ensued from the year before, 2011. The angle this story appears to sympathise with Scarlett Johansson’s plight whilst being a follow up story of the scandal from a year earlier and serving as a reminder to the readers of the scandal which is in contradiction to the values presented in the article and leads the reader to re-examine the journalistic agenda of the article. There is only one apparent source for this story, which is the single quote from Scarlett Johansson. The lack of depth suggests that the article may be an example of churnalism where the press release has been used with no backup to create an article to stir public interest. The focus on celebrities, the new and upcoming movie, and scandalous content, featuring a description of the nude photos, stir interest in a larger group of readers through the values of tabloidization. This brings into consideration the journalistic ethics of this article, which are questionable as it can be seen that this articles churns and old story, exploiting the celebrity and a past scandal for the sake of traffic and commercial gain.