One aspect of the Murdoch crisis hasn’t yet been aired. The episode is the logical outcome of the monster Murdoch helped to create: Tabloidrealitysoapsvillesleaze. In this subculture the unremittingly crude and incontinent story lines of soap operas become the fodder for news stories in the tabloids. Then the private lives of the actors in these dramas get the same treatment: reality and the storylines become deliberately confused in the papers. Add in footballers, instant reality TV stars, pop stars (now created through hysterical and gormless talent shows), politicians and celebrities with their pants down, real tragedies in which the victims must always be caught weeping on camera, hack into the phone messages of all of them, spread the whole filthy tableau across the media and rake in the money. When a certain critical mass was reached this hideous brew was bound to explode, drenching everyone in ordure. That moment has come.
One of the most revealing insights into Tabloidrealitysoapsvillesleaze emerged early in Rebekah Wade’s (as she then was) rise to fame. She married the soap star Ross Kemp of EastEnders. Kemp’s behaviour meant that besides his weekly TV slot he often made the front pages of the tabloids. Wade was once arrested for hitting Kemp and of course also made the front pages. Where in this was the dividing line between the soapworld, the tabloid press and reality? At the end of Animal Farm, the animals watching their drunken piggy masters with their new human friends could no longer tell which were pigs and which were men.
One of the most revealing insights into Tabloidrealitysoapsvillesleaze emerged early in Rebekah Wade’s (as she then was) rise to fame. She married the soap star Ross Kemp of EastEnders. Kemp’s behaviour meant that besides his weekly TV slot he often made the front pages of the tabloids. Wade was once arrested for hitting Kemp and of course also made the front pages. Where in this was the dividing line between the soapworld, the tabloid press and reality? At the end of Animal Farm, the animals watching their drunken piggy masters with their new human friends could no longer tell which were pigs and which were men.
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