| Blogging is an extremely popular pastime in recent | | | | drugs or illegal activity. And politicians are now major |
| years, and one of the fastest-growing kinds of sites | | | | targets as well, having achieved a greater level of |
| is the celebrity blog. While it may sometimes be | | | | celebrity than ever before. However squeaky clean |
| written by a publicity person, frequently a blog like | | | | they might portray themselves, if they've got a |
| this is composed by the actual celebrities. Yet the | | | | skeleton in their closet, or even just an old finger |
| vast majority of blogs covering famous people are | | | | bone, then someone is going to find them out and |
| written not by the stars, but by the fans who follow | | | | make a blog post about it. |
| them or by professional gossips who make a living | | | | It's no surprise, then, that stars also began their own |
| talking about them. | | | | weblogs, maybe to counteract the rising cacophony |
| It's likely that these news blogs, perhaps better | | | | of unrelenting gossip. The phenomenon of blogging |
| described as gossip blogs, came first, and that part | | | | has been a boon to both sides of the relationship, in |
| of the reason celebrity blogs began to appear was in | | | | fact, since famous people can also get their |
| response to these, so the stars could take back | | | | preferred message out to millions of people. While |
| some control of their image. But for a few years, | | | | you have gossip blogs like or on one side, on the |
| blogs that gossiped about celebrities reigned supreme. | | | | other you have famous bloggers like Bruce Willis, |
| This was no surprise, of course, since wildly popular | | | | Barbra Streisand, the very popular and prolific |
| newspaper tabloids like the National Enquirer and | | | | comedian Margaret Cho, soccer star David Beckham, |
| magazines like People had been serving a similar | | | | famous chef Jamie Oliver, home style diva Martha |
| purpose for decades. The public has always had a | | | | Stewart, writer Neil Gaiman, and on and on. The |
| high interest in juicy tidbits about the rich and famous. | | | | blogosphere is crowded with celebrities of every |
| But the interest in the stars, thanks to blogs that | | | | description. |
| gossip about them, has attained a level that goes | | | | This may not be a good thing. Celebrity blogs might |
| well beyond anything previously seen. A celebrity | | | | already have turned civil society into something much |
| used to need to avoid the prying eyes of newspaper | | | | less civil, a nation of gossipers unjustifiably prying into |
| reporters and television camera crews, but even | | | | the private lives of their fellow citizens, however |
| tabloids and gossip magazines have reason to be | | | | infamous they are. Even formerly responsible news |
| envious of the publicity achieved by the new blogs. | | | | organizations now include gossip about celebrities in |
| Even fans are now suspect, posting public photos | | | | their papers and newscasts. Bloggers who pry into |
| that might make the stars cringe. | | | | the lives of the stars may now be the "journalists" of |
| Sports figures, of course, are not immune either, | | | | the world, to the detriment of well-researched and |
| with sports blogs following the gossip trend, running | | | | reliable news. |
| items about players' love lives or speculation about | | | | |
