It should be no shock by now that I am totally wrapped up in the world of celebrities. I have subscribed to People Magazine for the past couple years, and before that I bought issue after issue from the checkout line. You might call me obsessed, but I prefer the term...interested...very interested.

Magazines are Today's tabloids. They are our most important source of printed gossip. They might even be our most trusted source of printed gossip. Because everything you read is true, right?

You might be thinking the internet would be our most "reliable" source for all breaking celebrity news. The internet is good for getting the gist of breaking stories, but magazines have had time to actually nail down details before their stories are sent out. That said, magazines do lie. There it is. I said it. Not everything they say is true, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it?

It's easy for us to take magazines, or any gossip source really, at their word because we don't know any better. We weren't there to observe what really happened that night at the club when so-and-so were seen snuggling all night, so naturally we'll believe whatever we're told.

The hard truth of the matter is that we must remember the "realities" that are the lives of celebrities are not necessarily reality. Magazines and other gossip resources have been known to touch-up stories to make them sound more appealing or to draw as much attention as they can.

An article from The Battalion discusses how celebrity news sources try to make their stories as relatable to their readers as possible. The more we as readers can relate to the lastest breaking story the more apt we are to continue buying the next issue to hit newstands.

Don't get me wrong, go out and buy People's newest issue featuring the newest wedding details of the pending nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Indulge your guilty pleasures. But remember to take everything you read with a grain of salt. Those magazines know how to pull on our gossip-strings and, by Golly, we've got to keep our heads on straight! Keep your head in the reality you know, and maybe just a toe or two dipped in the "reality" of celebrity lives. Because after all gossip magazines are just that, gossip. The rumor mill is a fun place to be, but don't forget to get off the mill every once and a while.

Back to Basics

Tabloids are our original prime source of all things celebrity. They are the "Momma Bear," the original magazine, the first entertainment news show, and twitter update. Of course they take a little longer than today's 5 second tweet, but if you want the news, you'll wait for the news.Tabloids have been around for decades and they've made an impact world-wide. Tabloids were originally just smaller newspapers having to do with the trendier topics of the day. While today's newspaper still have their gossip sections, tabloids have really developed into their own genre. In order to understand the various media sources we use today, I think it's important to get back to the basics and really understand where celebrity gossip got its start. And now we have something to blame our celebrity obsessions on. We can't help ourselves, it's born and bred into us! Aren't you glad to get that out of your system? Anyway...back to tabloids. The website How Stuff Works does a really good job of tracing the roots of tabloids and how they've changed. Beginning during the era of Yellow Journalism, tabloids have their roots in the papers that wrote made-up stories and made gross exaggerations in the stories of the day, which actually sounds a lot like today's tabloids. Over the years, tabloids have developed into a more agressive form of their original self. They will usually say anything to grab the reader's attention as they pass through the check-out line at the grocery store. And it pretty much always works. They get my attention every single time. Tabloids are really where all our obsessions began. I think having this information will make it easier to understand the popularity of magazines and entertainment news shows. It's going to be fascinating! I promise!

Fascinated,

Caity