BY NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ
When USA Today announced it was seeking a reporter to cover the ubiquitous Taylor Swift, I couldn’t be more excited. I’m a huge fan and would love to see how her impact affects our culture and economy.
As much as Swift and other celebrities like Beyoncé gained traction over the summer with their tours, USA Today’s parent company Gannet was questioned about where they’re putting their reporters.
We’re at a critical moment in journalism when local newsrooms are disappearing across the nation, according to PEN America in 2020.
Local news retains the pulse of a community by covering the courts, mayor and meetings that directly impact everyday people . Beyond the investigations, seeing culture represented in the news can spark pride among neighbors.
There are greater purposes to local news beyond what we can anticipate. If not to keep people up-to-date, local news documents the history of a community. We can easily trace the development of individual families through archives of newspapers and digital archives for years to come.
If not focusing on the need-to-know news, these positions are the news industry’s adjustments to the digital age by focusing on social trends.
We won’t know until we see what they deliver. Beats covering entertainment and people in power still include strong journalism ethics and practices. Balanced journalism involves judgment and skill. It’s not enough to update social media every hour with whereabouts and rumors.
We also know from journalistic ethics that being a fan or a hater of any celebrity presents serious conflicts of interest when reporting on them. These positions should follow the same guidelines that are expected of presidential reporters .
Sun-Times columnist Rummana Hussain reflected on how the new celebrity-focused positions are motivated by profit. The news industry is constantly trying to meet people, especially Gen Z, where they are with attention-grabbing headlines about the latest trend.
The meeting place is on social media. We’re constantly being told that people are getting their news through X, Instagram and TikTok. Swift and Beyoncé also reign supreme on these platforms, where fans can quickly spread information about updates about their tours and upcoming projects.
Local news can thrive in the age of digital media. Who knows better than community reporters to share the best local businesses, quick city hall updates and weather forecasts? As I enter the industry soon, I know that delivering news digitally is a valuable skill. Journalists are more than capable of keeping local news alive.
Gannett received over 1,000 applications for the celebrity beats. There are not as many rushing to cover a small town’s court system, but we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the significance of local news in the digital age. I’m sure someone out there will live their ‘wildest dreams’ by reporting on two of the most influential artists of the generation.
###