The chicken and egg of media consumption: do Americans pay too much attention to celebrity news because that’s what they are being fed? Or do Americans demand gossip from our outlets?
Who knows.
But regardless it appears that Americans have a self-loathing relationship with tabloid news.
In a Rasmussen poll released this week, 81% of Americans adults think their fellow Americans pay too much attention to celebrity news and not enough attention to news that has real impact on their lives. Only 10% of respondents felt that Americans don’t pay too much attention to celebrity news.
But here’s the kicker that you all saw coming.
There’s no statistical way that the tabloid-haters are not also among the tabloid-readers.
Depending on the source, about 50% of American women read celebrity gossip on a weekly basis, and only 16% do not read it at all.ย For American men and women alike, just 34% have no interest in celebrity news and gossip.ย This means that proportionately, more Americans are interested in celebrity news than residents in the UK, Spain, Japan, Germany, France and Australia.ย Only Italians have less interest in gossip news (33%), but not by a whole lot. ย
ย Karen Cyphers, PhD, is a public policy researcher, political consultant, and mother to three daughters. She can be reached at [email protected].ย
