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Are the paparazzi invading Washington? |
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Written by asap
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Friday, 16 March 2007 |
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Sex tapes. DUIs. Paternity suits. Rehab visits.
Celebrity scandals have become increasingly repetitive and covered to death by star-obsessed bloggers and entertainment news shows.
Perhaps that’s why TMZ, the superpopular celebrity gossip site, just may have its paparazzi and camera-phone lenses set on that other den of dirt: Washington, D.C.
TMZ, a juicy joint venture between AOL and Warner Bros. company Telepictures Productions named after the thirty mile zone around Los Angeles, declined to discuss their agenda with asap, but according to a report by The Washington Post, TMZ is launching a Washington-based spinoff called TMZDC in about a month.
Does this mean Capitol Hill will transform into the Hollywood Hills? Maybe. Maybe not.
Politicians exist in a realm far, far away from Fred Segal and Paris Hilton yet still garner public attention — especially when transgressions come to light.
However, a Monica Lewinsky or Mark Foley scandal only happens once in a blue moon, while a Britney Spears scandal makes headlines daily. Not to mention the fact that the omnipresent flashes from the paparazzi aren’t nearly as bright in D.C. as they are in Los Angeles or New York.
“I was talking to someone who works in the Senate the other day and they made this really great point, which was that the entire culture in Hollywood is based on getting yourself in the press. The culture of D.C. is based on avoiding the press,” says Anne Schroeder, Washington-based gossip columnist for The Politico. “In L.A. and New York, celebrities pay PR people to get them into the gossip columns. In D.C., politicians pay flacks to keep them out.”
While the skeletons in the closets of politicians have always been just as titillating as those of Hollywood types, they don’t sell as many magazine covers or garner as many gossip blog hits in this age of 24-hour news consumption.
In 2006, newsstand sales of news weeklies such as Time and Newsweek, which regularly feature the faces of political movers and shakers on their covers, fell while sales of celebrity weeklies like People and In Touch, which regularly feature the faces of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, increased.
If TMZ does indeed come to Washington, Charles Small, a former staffer for Wesley Clark and an avid reader of celebrity blogs like Pink is the New Blog and Perez Hilton, will bookmark it.
“There’s Wonkette and The Politico, but there’s really no one like TMZ doing that kind of journalism in Washington,” says Small, who now works at public affairs firm Westin Rhinhart.
Political consultant Jim Kitchens thinks Capital Hill is ripe for TMZ’s brand of no-holds-barred gossip mongering. Unlike celebrities who constantly recover from missteps, politicians have more at stake, he says.
“If you’re a movie star and you’re seen on the front of a tabloid with a girlfriend other than your wife, it may or may not affect your career and your ability to get another acting job and to make a lot of money,” says Kitchens. “But if you’re a politician, it could end your career if you’re caught doing something like that. There are different standards between movie stars and politicians even though they’re both seen as public figures.”
What could be next after TMZ lands in Washington? Politicians sporting giant sunglasses, drinking venti Frappuccinos and dancing on nightclub tables?
“Oh God. I hope so,” says gossip columnist Schroeder. “Maybe it’ll liven this place up.”
———
Derrik J. Lang is an asap reporter and blogger for The Slug (http://asapblogs.typepad.com/theslug). | Only registered users can write comments.
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