Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Which came first, the chicken (the story) or the egg (a blog)?

When you read a tabloid magazine article you may wonder, where do they get their information? 
You would think there are diligent reporters pounding keyboards fielding phone calls from sources, and vetting those sources, but the reality is much different. 
The majority of info given to magazines like People come through publicists or the celeb themselves. 
But publicists and their famous clients don't trust the tabloids, so Star 'reporters' are busy trolling the web, reading gossip blogs, looking at paparazzi photos, doing what any of us can do to get info. 
If you are a 'source' for these tabloids, you will know that what you've told them will end up in an upcoming issue. 
"How did [X] know that? [X] must be right!" 
Or you may just know that the lazy reporters have trolled your blog and will inevitably take the info --this doesn't make the information correct or the blogger prescient. 
Someone reading a blog could phone that info into a tabloid in the hopes of making some quick cash, it doesn't make it accurate. 
This issue of Star [below] had two major errors, the fact that LeAnn Rimes does not live in the Hollywood Hills, and the fact that Jake Cibrian's first name is not Austin. Is this from editorial laziness, or from sources who don't really have their facts straight? 
The 'drunk in a closet' stuff is inevitably from a Star reporter reading a blogger's blind item, and the $50 million is a fantasy and highly inflated version of LeAnn Rimes' actual wealth. 
Who wants to read about a $1.2 million divorce? BIG numbers get BIG attention.
While we do believe Mr Ed is in a living hell of his own making with the country crooner, we don't believe he's throwing in the towel--yet.