Sunday, September 14, 2003

This Is News?


BenLo in (slightly) happier times


Not that we should actually care, but Hollywood celebrity couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have split up, at least temporarily, after postponing their wedding over a media frenzy, People magazine reported on Sunday.

What I find interesting here, actually, is CNN.com's phrasing. Read literally, it's not the split that's being reported; it's the People magazine article. Since when did publication of an article become news? I know this sort of syntax is increasingly common, but that doesn't make it journalism.

Meanwhile, as long as we're talking about J Lo and Affleck, so is Newsweek. This week's Periscope section includes both a blip on J Lo's overexposure, and a neat little sidebar about a new play based on the early careers of Bostonian Ben and his best friend Matt in which both roles are played by women and the Good Will Hunting script literally falls from the sky. Matt & Ben is "the hottest play in New York." Both articles contain hardly-veiled digs at J Lo/Affleck. Can you say "bandwagon?"

posted by boyhowdy | 3:23 PM |

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