Comments on: Rolling Stone does Britney

By: Paul Burns

Paul Burns — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:33:05 +0000

Nabakov,
I don’t think I’d be well enough.

By: Nabakov

Nabakov — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:40:53 +0000

“Is it so remarkable that news outlets are preparing her obit? I think this is pretty much standard practice for any celeb currently suffering from a life-threatening illness.”

Standard practice for people in the public eye full stop.

In old school UK and Aus journalism, it was customary to put young tyros with potential and fading old hacks with a bit of style left onto the obit update rounds for as long as they could stand it. “Freshen up Whitlam and Frazer, and just for laffs, Crowe as well”. An excellent workout for keeping your pyramid lead skills sharp while excerising your colour para powers.

Try writing your own obit in four hundred words from scratch to meet a 3pm deadline on the day you died.

By: jules

jules — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:12:20 +0000

Who is Britney??

By: Carl!

Carl! — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:41:24 +0000

I often wonder if the same blatantly ‘ignorant’ (for want of a better word) coverage of mental illness could occur in Australia.

I’d like to think no, but I can’t think of a watershed case. Ideas?

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:49:27 +0000

“Life threatening”, not “terminal”. I haven’t been following it closely, but my understanding is that she has had at least one involuntary psychiatric admission recently, including a possible suicide attempt.

I find a huge amount of the press coverage intrusive, exploitative, and misogynistic; I just don’t find speculative obit-drafting to be at the shocking end of that. It’s pretty much S.O.P.

By: Darlene

Darlene — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:32:10 +0000

I think it’s off that they are preparing her obit. The illness she has doesn’t have to be life threatening at all. Hopefully she’ll get the right help.

One of the paps outside her house one of the nights she was taken away said that he didn’t want to miss seeing a body bag coming out. That’s their motivation.

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:03:30 +0000

Is it so remarkable that news outlets are preparing her obit? I think this is pretty much standard practice for any celeb currently suffering from a life-threatening illness.

By: Paul Burns

Paul Burns — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:27:47 +0000

Preparing her obit? Sometimes I really wonder about entertainment journalism. Leaving aside her recent sad life this kid does have talent. Drew Barrymore had some good advice recently for these kids, out of her own bitter experience, probaly partly due to hereditary influence. Centre yourself on your work. I realise most of these young’uns don’t have Barrymore’s advantages of a family theatrical tradition and an acquired or inherited occasional touch of genius, but it is good advice, nonetheless.