JOURNALISM DEAD: Gannett Hiring Reporters to Cover Taylor Swift, Beyonce
What adds to the irritation in this report is that Beyonce and Swift could not hold a candle to legendary singers like Eartha Kitt, Dinah Washington, and Ella Fitzgerald
NOTE TO READERS: The following is one of dozens of articles in this week’s issue of The Trends Journal. Consider subscribing here for in-depth, independent geopolitical and socioeconomic trends and trend forecasts that you won’t find anywhere else.
While newsrooms across the country are cutting staffers and local news is an essentially dead market, Gannett, the country’s largest newspaper owner, announced earlier this month that it will hire two journalists who will exclusively report on Taylor Swift and Beyonce Knowles.
“Taylor Swift is an artist and businesswoman whose work has tremendous economic, cultural, and societal significance,” Kristin Roberts, Gannett’s chief content office said in a statement obtained by The Washington Post. Roberts also called Beyonce, who is married to rapper Jay-Z, “a force in the world of business, music, fashion, and our culture.”
She continued, “Our role is to cover the newsmakers who Run the World, influence our society, impact lives, and create positive change.”
Swift’s Eras tour could gross $2.2 billion in ticket sales in North America alone. Newsweek ran an article in July that compared Swift to Beyonce and noted that Swift sold over 75 million albums compared to Beyonce who sold over 42 million. (The report noted that Beyonce’s gross total does not include her time as singer for Destiny’s Child, which would overtake Swift.)
TRENDPOST: The Associated Press noted that Gannett shed about 47 percent of its workforce over the last three years due to financial constraints and noted that some of its papers cut 90 percent of their teams.
“At a time when so much serious news and local reporting is being cut, it’s a decision to raise some questions about,” Rick Edmonds, an expert at the journalism think tank Poynter Institute, told the AP.
Gannett said it is not hiring these two positions at the expense of other reporters.
The U.S. news media is only interested in viewership and clicks, which is why most of the population knows more about Swift’s latest love interest or a fight that broke out during a football game, than the state of the economy or the reality in Ukraine.
What adds to the irritation in this report is that Beyonce and Swift could not hold a candle to legendary singers like Eartha Kitt, Dinah Washington, and Ella Fitzgerald. Our watered-down society gets watered-down singers—about as vacuous as a lipstick ad and as sincere as Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Art and journalism are dead in America—perhaps it would make more sense for Gannett to invest in obituary writers.
(Photo: Taylor Swift seen at a recent Kansas City Chiefs game. NFL/X)
And I’m not sure I’ve heard either of their music. Shame on me. Whoa!
Spot on piece. These lowlife idiots don’t even have the first clue about musical talent