Britney Spears - Worthless 04 February 2008

What does Britney Spears mean to the Media Industry, and do I give a damn?

Yet again, Britney Spears is in the headlines, as for the second time this month she has been put on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. Since she bounded to international stardom with her debut single “…Baby One More Time” released in the end of 1998, she has become a regular character of the news media.

When Paris Hilton was released from a Los Angeles jail on June 26, 2007, you would have been forgiven for thinking that something important was taking place, due to the huge media attention it received. At the time presenter Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s Morning Joe programme, snapped and refused to cover the story. The edited clip of Brzezinski attempting to set her script on fire, tearing it up and finally putting it through a shredder has been viewed on YouTube over three million times.

Personally I have no interest in Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, and I would argue that unless either of them dies then they have no place in the news… but apparently I am in the minority here.

According to Saturday’s Telegraph Britney Spears ‘worth $120m to US economy’, pumping an estimated $120 million (£60 million) a year into the economy at least, and is indirectly responsible for even more. $400 million for Jive Records, $100 million goes to the Elizabeth Arden company for the ‘Spears’ perfume range, and tour promoters and concert venues net $150 million.

She has also fuelled an estimated boom of $75 million a year for the media, with celebrity magazines reporting sales increases of up to 33 per cent when they put her face on the cover. The paparazzi who follow her every move - from shopping expeditions and trips to fast-food joints to more explosive public meltdowns - pocket a further $4 million from picture sales.
telegraph.co.uk

Just who are all these people desperate to lap up Britney news? It is not just an American thing, as it is worth noting that Sky News have a whole section of their website dedicated to ‘Britney news’. The day that Britney was sectioned, there was, (and still is), a state backed genocide taking place in Kenya. Priorities it seems, are swayed by pop stars.