IN HONOUR OF BRITNEY SPEARS, THE PATRON SAINT OF INCREASED MEDIA REVENUES
January 8th 2008 01:49
MediaBlab has discovered that it is impossible to live in a modern media climate and not be Britney conscious.
In its infancy MediaBlab foolishly and naively declared itself a Britney Spears-free zone but now we have seen the light, and like all other outlets, we have come to realise that when it comes to media, the bucks don’t stop flying when Britney breasts the body copy and headlines.
Peter Preston of the UK Guardian acknowledged the phenomenon in a beautifully written piece about the media industry’s major revenue raiser.
Long may she raise revenue.
He continued, “…in Africa or Asia we are mere onlookers at the carnage. We may send food, medicine, sympathy and perhaps feel a twinge of post-colonial guilt, but the causes of conflict do not immediately engage us. This is distant desolation where we, in our living rooms, have no direct role. But the tear-stained wreck of a young pop star? We are, in our way, that howling mob around the arena. Those snappers, at first- or second-hand, are working for us.
“TV issues no squeamishness warnings as we watch Spears wheeled through the melee. Sky puts it top of the shop without a second's thought. The Sun, Mirror and the rest weigh in about "Psychotic Brit at rock bottom" with all the relish of editors seeing a good sales day ahead. (Who needs lost Maddy now?) The News of the World counts 100 pills swallowed in 36 hours. One prime Hollywood gossip site reports 10,089,428 Spears page impressions in 24 hours: an all-time record. Yet these, to be clear, aren't events happening in some lowly corner of impolite society. You can watch those ambulance scenes over and over on the Times website video. All the quality papers' websites have the tale among their five most visited. Only the Financial Times is Britney free.
- From MediaBlab
| 64 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
