Publication
Title
Of local and global fame : a comparative analysis of news items and audience reactions on celebrity news websites People, Heat, and HLN
Author
Abstract
Worldwide, people follow global celebrities lives almost in real time, while communities create their own celebrities, of great local fame but unknown internationally. Examining the People (USA), Heat (UK), and HLN (Flanders) websites, this article provides a quantitative framing-based content analysis of a sample of online celebrity news and the accompanying audience responses. General results show that media focus on celebrities professional and love lives, while audiences cover more superficial topics (appearances). Further, media tend to be less and readers more judgmental in discussing celebrities. Examining global/local distinctions, HLN articles are shown to focus on global celebrities, while readers comment more on local stars. Reactions also cover more personal topics when discussing local celebrities, and both HLN articles and reactions judge global celebrities more negatively than locals. Finally, most positive parasocial relationships are maintained with local and most negative with global celebrities. The cultural proximity hypothesis can help explain these differences.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journalism : theory, practice and criticism. - London, 2000, currens
Publication
London : 2014
ISSN
1464-8849 [print]
1741-3001 [online]
DOI
10.1177/1464884913488725
Volume/pages
15 :2 (2014) , p. 218-236
ISI
000330771900007
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 25.09.2013
Last edited 09.10.2023
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