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In
Pop Culture, Politics, and the News, Joel Penney explores how pop culture news has taken on an important role in contemporary political discourse. Through coverage of topics like Hollywood diversity, celebrity controversy, and "cancel culture" backlash, entertainment journalism has emerged as a key source of political information and commentary, providing audiences with an accessible lens into some of the most hot-button issues of our time. Yet due to the "clickbait" economics of the polarized digital news business, the quality of entertainment journalism is often compromised, and consequently, people view pop culture coverage as "soft news" with little substance or public value. As a cutting-edge, data-rich analysis of the blurring boundaries between entertainment, politics, social media activism, and partisan journalism,
Pop Culture, Politics, and the News makes a major contribution to public scholarship on the shifting digital information landscape.
List of contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Why Pop Culture News Matters: Theorizing and Historicizing Entertainment Journalism as Political Communication
- Chapter 2: Progressing Hollywood: Left-Wing Entertainment Journalism and the Push for Diversity and Accountability
- Chapter 3: Pop Culture Warriors: Right-Wing Entertainment Journalism and the Fight Against "Big Hollywood"
- Chapter 4: Hot Takes and Clickbait: The Impact of Commercialism on the Pop Culture-Politics Beat
- Chapter 5: Trending Outrage: How Social Media Impacts the Work of Journalists at the Pop Culture-Politics Nexus
- Chapter 6: Pop Culture News as a Bridge to Politics? Exploring the Audience Perspective
- Chapter 7: Conclusion: Assessing the Public Value of Journalism at the Pop Culture-Politics
- Nexus
- Notes
- References
- Index
About the author
Joel Penney is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, specializing in new media, critical/cultural studies, and political communication and theory. His research focuses on the uses of digital media and popular culture for political expression as well as the construction of collective identities. His first book, The Citizen Marketer, is the winner of national book awards from the American Political Science Association and the National Communication Association.
Summary
In Pop Culture, Politics, and the News, Joel Penney explores how pop culture news has taken on an important role in contemporary political discourse. Through coverage of topics like Hollywood diversity, celebrity controversy, and "cancel culture" backlash, entertainment journalism has emerged as a key source of political information and commentary, providing audiences with an accessible lens into some of the most hot-button issues of our time. Yet due to the "clickbait" economics of the polarized digital news business, the quality of entertainment journalism is often compromised, and consequently, people view pop culture coverage as "soft news" with little substance or public value.
Very little is known about how this journalism is produced and consumed as a component of the digital news ecosystem. Moreover, we lack a measured sense of its potential impact on the political interests and knowledge of its audiences, the politics of the entertainment industry it covers, and the shape of public debate more broadly.
Drawing on interviews with entertainment journalists and testimonials from news audiences who share these stories on social media, Joel Penney argues for the importance of reframing our understanding of impactful journalism and persuasive political communication when culture and identity have moved thoroughly to the center of U.S. public discourse. Moreover, Penney examines how audiences engage with this highly accessible and emotionally resonant form of journalism and use it as a resource for political expression and discussion, raising important questions about how it can serve as a bridge to public issue engagement as well as a potential distraction from on-the-ground political concerns. As a cutting-edge, data-rich analysis of the blurring boundaries between entertainment, politics, social media activism, and partisan journalism, Pop Culture, Politics, and the News makes a major contribution to public scholarship on the shifting digital information landscape.
Additional text
Joel Penney offers compelling arguments for why 'soft news' should not be written off as frivolous or as having little public value, while also illuminating the potential dangers of conveying heated political issues via for-profit, click-bait-oriented entertainment journalism. Based on interviews with journalists and audiences, this insightful book will inspire lively class discussions about the colliding political and cultural spheres of our contemporary news media environment.
