Kim Kardashian's full-frontal and booty photos in Paper magazine
have stirred debates in newsrooms over how organizations should cover
celebrity journalism and pop culture. Is it news that a member of
reality TV royalty decided to get undressed for a magazine no one had
ever heard of before?
Tom Rosenstiel, executive
director of the American Press Institute, says that the news media are
often used by celebrities and publicity agents to attract more
attention.
"This is just a celebrity who took her
clothes off," he says. "The fact that it is popular online, I don't know
if that tells us something about ourselves as a society that we didn't
know already. If it does, I don't think it tells us very much."
USA TODAY decided to post stories on Kardashian prominently, but did not show her fully naked self on the website.
USA
TODAY Life Editor Alison Maxwell says it's the news outlet's job to
report on what people are talking about and acknowledge what's buzzing
in the world of celebrities. "There was nothing bigger than this
yesterday or really in the last month or so," she says. "We were doing a
service to our readers on reporting on what happened and then taking it
to the next level and also having a little fun with it."
For example, USA TODAY ran a story digitally and in print questioning whether a person's butt could look like that without surgical enhancements or Photoshopping. The answer: Doubtful.
Some
editors questioned how much time and resources should be devoted to
such a tawdry topic as opposed to more substantive journalism.
"For
good or bad, Kim Kardashian is too big a celebrity to ignore, and this
magazine spread is news," says David Colton, an executive editor of USA
TODAY. "However, I worry that running bare-naked ladies, no matter how
newsy, chips away at journalistic standards. Any topic can be covered.
It depends on how you cover it. In this case, I think we could have
conveyed what happened without showing the photos."
The goal for Paper magazine was to "break the Internet."
"For
our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break the Internet.
There is no other person that we can think of who is up to the task
than one Kim Kardashian West. A pop culture fascination able to generate
headlines just by leaving her house, Kim is what makes the web tick," Paper's intro to the photos reads.
Emily Yahr, a pop-culture reporter for The Washington Post, wrote a piece on how "Breaking the Internet" was a ridiculous concept.
"Kim Kardashian's butt won't be the thing to break the Internet because it's one of the those things that makes the Internet," Yahr wrote on Wednesday.
The Post did
not highlight the article on its homepage, according to Yahr, and it
did not appear in the newspaper. It was featured in the news
organization's pop-culture blog.
"It wasn't the
most important story of the day," she said a in a telephone interview.
"It was trending online so I think it was worth covering but not worth
highlighting significantly."
The New York Times has not covered Kardashian's photos, according to Eileen M. Murphy, vp of communications. "We don't cover everything. So far, this story just falls into the category of things we've passed on," Murphy says.
Those
who cover news and culture are torn because many became journalists to
write about weightier matters than a celebrity socialite who gained fame
thanks to a leaked sex tape and reality TV. But the truth is, she is
part of the culture. She's been embraced by the fashion industry, she is
the wife of a Grammy-winning rapper. We're curious to know what she
will do next. So are our readers.
A decade ago, before
Facebook and Twitter, these photos would have been noticed but would
never have received the massive, instant exposure. .
Ostensibly,
Kardashian got exactly what she wanted from those photos -- more Twitter
followers (reinforced by multiple promotional tweets), more controversy
and another news cycle that spotlights her multi-million dollar
franchise.
She's beautiful -- mysterious and yet relatable. And completely unremarkable beyond her looks.
Paper magazine
explained in the article that Kardashian spends two hours each morning
on her hair and makeup. She digitally categorizes her selfies, which
will be turned into a book. And those who bothered to read the interview
know she answers like a pro, giving coy, vague responses and vanilla
quotes.
"In a few years, people will be talking about how we don't
hear about her anymore," Rosenstiel says. "She's famous for being
famous. And being outrageous, and being a type. At any given time, there
is somebody like her in our culture. She's Pamela Anderson in a
different era."
