From this title you might think this is one of those inspirational or
guide to money-making kind of articles. Sorry to disappoint you, this
is straight, frank talk from me. Might get me into a lot of trouble but I
really do not mind.
I got a call from a colleague of mine who
just entered the movie industry a few years ago. She is very beautiful,
married, talented and hardworking.
She was crying on the phone as
she was talking and I did not understand why. It was about an article
that was published about her in magazines and on the Internet. As I
listened to her speak with strong emotions, I felt sorry for her because
unlike me she had not developed a thick skin for things like this. The
story about her was ridiculously hilarious because she was with me in
Abuja as at the time she was supposed to have committed these so-called
atrocities.
I laughed so hard and said: “Welcome to the club my
dear, this is supposed to make you stronger”. She did not understand
what I meant so I promised that I would explain when I see her.
One
thing was certain though, a human being has been hurt, her friends and
family were extremely upset, her husband is thinking twice about
allowing her to continue in this movie business because he cannot
understand why someone who wants to work hard and entertain people
should be treated this way. I felt bad for them because I have been
there too many times and right now as I am writing I am still dealing
with my own media issues. My case is different because I have become my
own person in my career and at this point, I know what I want, who I am,
where I am going and what I am doing. So, regardless of what is being
said, my life is beautiful thanks to my God who has blessed me and no
man can ever change that.
Anyway it got me thinking about my life
and that of others who have had unthinkable things written about them. I
also remembered that there is a saying that goes like this: “There is
no smoke without fire” . My new journey as a writer has exposed me and
taught me so many things about how some journalists have been able to
use that saying to create stories about us and make people believe it.
So you can say Stella is exposing them but I choose to say I am
enlightening them. I will get to the real point shortly.
So, this
is how it works. There is a list of entertainers and popular people
according to a lot of journalists who write junk. This list is in
categories
• Celebs who are A listers
•Celebs who have not been in the media in a while
•Celebs whose names can sell papers in times of slow news
•Celebs who like to react when something comes out. (when something is written about them)
•Celebs who have money to spend to kill stories about them
•Celebs who love publicity and like to pay for it
•Celebs who are very quiet so when negative things are written about them people are too curious to resist
•Celebs who are relatively new and who have not been in the news
The
list is longer but let me stop here for now. So, it now depends on the
target that the journalist has been given. He then looks at the list and
looks for the celeb that fits into his plan to meet his target. For
instance if his boss says, “sales have been low in the past two weeks”’,
it means that they need something to draw people’s attention. The
journalist then takes a look at the list of the celebs whose name and
face can sell papers.
He picks the one they themselves have
labelled controversial and starts to think about what he can write that
will have some elements of recognizable factors around the person that
will make you think there is an element of truth in the story
Let
me explain that please: If Celeb A has a shop, just came back from a
film festival in France, loves jewellery, has a black Range Rover, talks
about her love for black underwear because she is light skinned in an
interview, here is how this journalist X will make story around her.
“Based
on a report from a close reliable source, Celeb A was spotted in France
with a new lover whose identity will soon be revealed. We have it on
good authority that Celeb A was taken to the airport in a brand new
Range Rover which sources have revealed was bought for her by this new
lover. Celeb A boarded a flight to France where she met with her new
found man who took her shopping and bought her black underwear which the
celeb was showing off to her friends. The new ring this celeb spots on
her finger is worth N2million and close sources have revealed that even
though this man is married, he is willing to throw caution to the winds
by showing the celeb how much he loves her publicly. This show of shame
did not stop there, we also found out that he has bought a lot of
expensive things to stock her shop in high brow Victoria Island. Tongues
have been wagging especially with the fact that the wife of this man
heard about this escapade and has threatened to come and deal with Celeb
A if she does not leave her husband alone. When XX magazine placed a
call to celeb A, she denied the allegation and said we should talk to
her publicist.”
I just made this up and I am not even a qualified
journalist, so you can imagine how a professionally done story will come
out. Now also imagine any name that you know is a celeb and put her
name in place of all the places I wrote celeb A and tell me how you feel
about it. You see how easy it is to write something using elements that
you can use to identify somebody and how it will make people say “there
is no smoke without fire”. Painful thing is that people will read these
things, believe them without thinking twice, judge you instantly and
start to talk about it with their friends who have friends, thereby
helping to spread this story.
Credit: Stella Damasus, Culled from PM News
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