Celebrity Blind Items: The History, Popularity & Ethical Implications of Unverified Claims
Thank you so much to Jose Cuervo for sponsoring this episode. Buy Jose Cuervo here: https://www.danmurphys.com.au/list/jose-cuervo
In this week's episode, I explore the culture of celebrity blind items— from its origins to its rising popularity in recent years and of course, the ethical implications of this type of gossip content.
Timestamps:
00:32 Intro
4:55 What is a blind item?
6:17 The history of blind items
9:14 Crazy Days & Nights
11:57 Blind items & social media
14:02 Blind item TikTokers
14:57 Why have blind items become so popular lately?
15:11 Theory #1: Transparency of celebrity PR machine
19:25 Theory #2: The rise of misinformation & citizen journalism
23:28 Theory #3: The mainstream-ification of conspiracy theories
26:48 Theory #4: Blind items feed into our negativity bias
29:34 Conclusion: The ethical implications of blind items
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Sources:
Capote, T. (1974). Blind Items. In Ladies’ home journal (Vol. 91, Number 1, pp. 81-). Meredith Corporation.
https://www.strikemagazines.com/blog-2-1/if-youve-heard-of-blind-items-youre-hot
https://www.vulture.com/article/enty-lawyer-crazy-days-and-nights-john-nelson.html?
https://www.laineygossip.com/Home/Press#
https://www.elle.com/fashion/a60387426/musicians-eras-trend-2024/
https://centennialworld.com/deuxmoi-anonymous-user-submitted-gossip/