I heard on the radio yesterday morning that Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had broken up yet again after giving their celebrity romance another shot. In nearly the same breath, the announcer told me Harry Styles, one of the heart-throbs from Brit boy band One Direction, is dating Rod Stewart's daughter Ruby.
My journalism peers and I debate the merits of "entertainment" news on our online discussion Facebook group, the Kiwi Journalists Association. Frequently, the complaint from journos is they can't reach for a bucket soon enough. The trouble is, while journalists are supposed to be good judges of what a readership would like to read, we sometimes can be too sniffy for our own good. We're supposed to write strong, robust news, but that doesn't mean people are going to stand there and read our sacred pronouncements like the Israelites standing before Moses at Mt Sinai.
I listened to the news of the famous Twilight Twosome, and I was pleasantly entertained.
It was precisely what I needed on a morning drive to Masterton, putting together the threads of my upcoming work day.
In this, I note the excellent comments of NZ Herald columnist Paul Thomas, who points out that while it's easy to criticise those who write entertainment news, perhaps the criticism should be towards "the unworldly, incurious, easily titillated mainstream that news organisations cater to because, well, it's the mainstream".
