Arts and Entertainment

Coverage

Discussion

1. What does arts and entertainment news cover?

2. Where do you find arts and entertainment coverage?

3. How does it compare with general news coverage?

Arts and entertainment covers CULTURE!This type of news is focused on what society is interested in, including music, movies/films, books, television, theater, and art and design. It also concerns itself with the people involved in all of these elements of culture, typically called artists, public figures, or celebrities.

Where can you find arts and entertainment news?

Arts and entertainment news is everywhere. You can find it online on major news websites, self-made blogs (like the famous celebrity gossip site www.perezhilton.com), social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and more. It can also be seen on television in news broadcasts and on entertainment networks such as VH1, MTV or the like. It is also covered in popular entertainment magazines such as The Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. Even radio journalism has coverage specifically tailored towards arts and entertainment, from broadcast radio reporters who have stations dedicated to arts and entertainment coverage to major radio networks such as National Public Radio’s arts and entertainment news section (called “Arts & Life”). As you can see, there are multiple journalistic platforms that provide different types of arts and entertainment coverage. This module will focus mainly on The New York Times coverage of arts and entertainment, breaching out to other examples for additional information.

News vs. Entertainment

“News content tends to be studied apart from entertainment content. Yet, the line between the two forms is increasingly blurred.”

-Rebecca Ann Lind and David L. Rarick in the Journal of Mass Media EthicsThe following table is based on a study of arts and entertainment coverage on major television network programs. It shows that entertainment stories are prevalent on television news programs.

Source: Mass Communication and Society

Newsworthiness and Demand

From Journalism:

“[N]ews about the war in Iraq rests firmly at the top, and…a diversity of news material is important to audiences…news media have a responsibility to provide audiences not only with what they need, but what they want” (Harries 627).What do audiences want? A spectrum of news that includes everything from politics to celebrity gossip. Arts and entertainment coverage provides a relief from more serious news topics.

Arts and Entertainment has a “place” on all major news websites…

CNN

Washington Post

Fox News

ABC

CBS

High Culture vs. Low Culture

Entertainment coverage typically focuses on what is called “low culture,” more commonly known as popular culture.

Popular CultureCultural activities or commercial products

reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.

Arts coverage tends to focus more on “high culture”, which is the opposite of popular culture. It is typically considered more elitist because it is assumed that less people are interested.

Dwindling Coverage of High Arts

Despite the fact that interest in high arts has not diminished, the amount of coverage of high art has significantly decreased over the years.

Doug McLennan, editor of the online arts news service ArtsJournal.com: “Dance coverage in most newspapers is very, very small, yet the number of participants worldwide is increasing. There are 250,000 choruses in the U.S., but you wouldn’t know it by reading most American newspapers.”

In an article in The Seattle Times:

“From 1992 to 1997, King County's population grew 5.5 percent - and the audience attending nonprofit cultural events grew 28 percent. Total attendance in 1997, the last year tallied by the King County Corporate Council for the Arts, was more than for the Seahawks, Mariners and Sonics combined. That doesn't include commercial enterprises like galleries, rock concerts and Broadway shows.”

Why?

Since interest is clearly not the problem, what is causing this lack of high arts coverage?

The Problem: Consumerism

From Condition Critical:

“The arts criticism in most national magazines, in nearly all newspapers around the country, and even in the arts weeklies has become shorter in length and lighter in tone — where it has survived at all — and the concerns of much of the critical writing published both in print and online have grown progressively commercial: What to watch? What to buy? Is the movie worth the cost of admission? Is the book worth the cover price?”

Alisa Solomon, the director of the Arts and Culture program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, essentially said the problem is “the idea that anything that’s worthwhile pay for itself. In an environment where there’s disdain for expertise, and where  intelligent conversation about a topic is considered elitist and therefore oppressive, critics look not only dispensable, but somehow evil or wrong. Our attitudes toward the arts have been framed within this notion that they have to have some kind of utilitarian or commercial value, and we're losing our ability to talk about them in other terms."

Discussion: Focus on High Culture or Pop Culture? (CBS)

Did you notice?• Focus on celebrities: popular culture• “Buy two and half men mug”: advertisements for popular culture• See arrow: One of the only examples of high culture, an upcoming

performance at the Kennedy Center, has to be sponsored?

On CNN’s entertainment homepage, there are several examples of how popular culture is emphasized.

Most news websites introduce arts and entertainment news as “entertainment” on their home page, as we saw on the slide discussing placement. Even in looking at how the New York Times introduces arts and entertainment news on their home page (seen left), it is clear that this organization takes a more serious stance on this type of coverage.

An Exception to the Rule: New York Times

Lorne Manly (seen on the left), the entertainment editor of The New York Times answered viewers’ questions about entertainment coverage. One question focused on how this news organization balances coverage of high culture and low culture, and Manly’s answer gave a key example on the difference between how this news organization covers pop culture in comparison to how tabloids cover it.

A look at how The New York Times expands its audience using social media

The New York Times’ Facebook account is used to share a critique of a popular film with their audience.

A look at how The New York Times expands its audience using social

media

The New York Times created a twitter account simply for their arts beat, which is used to give its large audience (of over 430,000 followers) instant updates about its arts and

entertainment coverage.

Like most other news media, The New York Times puts something like the image to the left in every article. By doing this, news websites attempt to get their audience to use social media to share the news and information reported in their publication. For example, if you click the “RECOMMEND” button beside the Facebook icon (in the image to the left), you are given the option of posting arts and entertainment news on your wall (screenshot example below). These types of functions make the audience feel more involved, and audience interaction is key to successful journalism. It also increases interests in the news covered, allowing for it to be shared with people who may not be regular visitors of arts and entertainment news websites.

The New York Times: More Serious Arts Coverage

In addition to news and information regarding arts and entertainment, The New York Times also provides an “Arts and Entertainment Guide”. This guide provides a list of upcoming performances in arts and entertainment. It is sorted by “Critics Picks,” meaning each of these shows has been chosen by a critic who believes they are of good quality. Here is a screenshot:

DISCUSSION:

• What is the benefit of this type of tool for the audience?

• How is it useful for people interested in arts and entertainment?

• Could it be used for other arts and entertainment journalists? How?