Celebrity journalism and politics.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe
• Position: Words & Images

IT IS A FAMILIAR and disturbing formula. First the media have a field day helping create celebrities for millions to care about and admire. Then, they pass on poorly documented or inconsequential gossip about every aspect of the celebrities' personal lives, making them the most talked about personalities in the world. Next, they tear them down bit by bit by pointing out their inadequacies. Finally, they chase them out of the public limelight with indignation and anger.

The news media have fashioned a journalist-celebrity relationship that really doesn't exist off camera. On camera, news people act as if the celebrity is their best friend. They call the celebrity by his or her first name. They joke about the celebrity's life in intimate terms. Off camera, the celebrity barely remembers the broadcaster's name. No better example of this can be found than in the saga of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. At first, the media lionized them, serving them up to the American public as the perfect couple, the cute couple, the loving couple, the down-to-earth couple. No aspect of their private lives was left unexplored. No candid picture unpublished. Even Affleck noted to one reporter, "I'm sick of reading about me and seeing pictures of me. I can't imagine the public feels any different."

Celebrities savaged

The two celebs, aware of what happens if luminaries start ignoring the media (they are savaged), tried to be as accommodating as possible. They sat for endless TV interviews, chatted with every reporter, posed for every photograph. When the "cute" phase of their relationship played out, the media decided it was time for Phase II--digging up every unpleasant episode they could find. Emphasis was on the negative and salacious, featuring the ugliest candid photos captured by paparazzi hiding in cars and bushes. They portrayed the two as arrogant, uncaring, so involved with themselves that no one else, not even old friends, mattered. Phase III struck with a vengeance, How dare Affleck and Lopez think themselves important enough to warrant all of this attention? Their downfall was hastened by a film everyone denigrated--"Gigli." Only an ingratiating appearance by Affleck on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" fought the tide of destructive propaganda against Ben and Jen. The actor was so charming as he read some of the worst reviews imaginable, that he no doubt convinced some viewers that maybe Affleck and Lopez were not the evil duo they were made out to be...