Sven will we be adult about sex?
Brian Reade in The Mirror is absolutely right about the ridiculousness of two consenting adults shagging being given more coverage than real world news.
He also mentions that when Francis Crick died, 98% of the population had not heard of him - to that I will add other recent departures, Paul Foot, Carlos Kleiber, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, all of whom are more worthy of respect than the Abi Titmusses and James Hewitts the tabloids blueurch on about relentlessly.
And I might even add Marlon Brando - I would suspect that a fair proportion of people who avidly follow the lives of Reality TV stars probably haven't heard of Marlon Brando, either. And don't hold your breath for recognition of Ronald Reagan...
But that's the problem, isn't it? Brian Reade is usually a good read, but, when all is said and done, he writes in the Mirror, which, despite its occasional outbreaks of moral indignation (and more power to its elbow there), nevertheless is primarily in the market for its Sports coverage and its celebrity gossip.
And I know that there are a few people floating around BlogLand who fail entirely to understand why tabloids contain celebrity gossip. Because it sells newspapers! Why, because there is an inherent human instinct to be interested in the lives of other people. Perhaps especially there is a natural element of schadenfreude in seeing those that are more powerful, or richer, or more glamorous, with egg on their face.
My problem is, the tabloids tend to focus on the easily-accessible, publicity-hungry C-listers and Royals (mainly interchangeable, I think!) because it doesn't require much work. However, to me, the interest lies far more in those who don't attend the opening of every paper bag. They are usually the ones with the sleazy, scandalous lives, and I find it far more entertaining to read about them, often piecing together various bits and pieces from diverse sources, than to read yet again that some slapper shagged another slapper.
A couple of weeks ago I linked to a Times article about conductors' sex lives, which I helpfully preserved on Usenet/Google Groups. Norman Lebrecht had already discussed Why conductors have great sex. These stories would never sell tabloids - and there is similar, titillating gossip from the world of literature etc. The truth is, these people are more interesting than vacuous wannabe Model-Actress-Whatevers.
