1. Arts and
Entertainment
Coverage

2. Discussion
1. What does arts and entertainment news cover?
2. Where do you find arts and entertainment
coverage?
3. How does it compare with general news
coverage?

3. Arts and entertainment covers CULTURE!
This type of news is focused on what society is interested
in, including music, movies/films, books, television, theater, and art
and design. It also concerns itself with the people involved in all of
these elements of culture, typically called artists, public figures, or
celebrities.

4. Where can you find arts and entertainment
news?
Arts and entertainment news is everywhere. You can find it online on
major news websites, self-made blogs (like the famous celebrity
gossip site www.perezhilton.com), social media websites
(Facebook, Twitter, etc) and more. It can also be seen on television in
news broadcasts and on entertainment networks such as VH1, MTV or
the like. It is also covered in popular entertainment magazines such as
The Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. Even radio journalism
has coverage specifically tailored towards arts and entertainment, from
broadcast radio reporters who have stations dedicated to arts and
entertainment coverage to major radio networks such as National
Public Radio’s arts and entertainment news section (called “Arts &
Life”). As you can see, there are multiple journalistic platforms that
provide different types of arts and entertainment coverage.
This module will focus mainly on The New York Times coverage of arts
and entertainment, breaching out to other examples for additional
information.

5. News vs. Entertainment
“News content tends to be studied apart from entertainment content. Yet, the line
between the two forms is increasingly blurred.”
-Rebecca Ann Lind and David L. Rarick in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics
The following table is based on a study of arts and entertainment coverage on
major television network programs. It shows that entertainment stories are
prevalent on television news programs.
Source: Mass Communication and Society

6. Newsworthiness and Demand
From Journalism:
“[N]ews about the war in Iraq rests firmly at the
top, and…a diversity of news material is important to
audiences…news media have a responsibility to
provide audiences not only with what they need, but
what they want” (Harries 627).
What do audiences want? A spectrum of news that
includes everything from politics to celebrity gossip.
Arts and entertainment coverage provides a relief
from more serious news topics.

7. Arts and Entertainment has a “place” on all major news websites…
CNN
Washington Post
Fox News
ABC
CBS

8. High Culture vs. Low Culture
Entertainment coverage typically focuses on what is called “low culture,”
more commonly known as popular culture.
Popular Culture
Cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited
to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.
Arts coverage tends to focus more on “high culture”, which is the
opposite of popular culture. It is typically considered more elitist
because it is assumed that less people are interested.

9. Dwindling Coverage of High Arts
Despite the fact that interest in high arts has not diminished, the amount of coverage of high art
has significantly decreased over the years.
Doug McLennan, editor of the online arts news service ArtsJournal.com: “Dance coverage in most
newspapers is very, very small, yet the number of participants worldwide is increasing. There are
250,000 choruses in the U.S., but you wouldn’t know it by reading most American newspapers.”
In an article in The Seattle Times:
“From 1992 to 1997, King County's population grew 5.5 percent - and the audience attending
nonprofit cultural events grew 28 percent. Total attendance in 1997, the last year tallied by
the King County Corporate Council for the Arts, was more than for the Seahawks, Mariners and
Sonics combined. That doesn't include commercial enterprises like galleries, rock concerts and
Broadway shows.”
Why?
Since interest is clearly not the problem, what is causing this lack of high arts coverage?

10. The Problem: Consumerism
From Condition Critical:
“The arts criticism in most national magazines, in nearly all newspapers around the
country, and even in the arts weeklies has become shorter in length and lighter in tone —
where it has survived at all — and the concerns of much of the critical writing published
both in print and online have grown progressively commercial: What to watch? What to
buy? Is the movie worth the cost of admission? Is the book worth the cover price?”
Alisa Solomon, the director of the Arts and Culture program at the Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism, essentially said the problem is “the idea that anything
that’s worthwhile pay for itself. In an environment where there’s disdain for expertise, and
where intelligent conversation about a topic is considered elitist and therefore
oppressive, critics look not only dispensable, but somehow evil or wrong. Our attitudes
toward the arts have been framed within this notion that they have to have some kind of
utilitarian or commercial value, and we're losing our ability to talk about them in other
terms."

11. Discussion: Focus on High Culture or Pop Culture? (CBS)

12. Did you notice?
• Focus on celebrities: popular culture
• “Buy two and half men mug”: advertisements for popular culture
• See arrow: One of the only examples of high culture, an upcoming performance
at the Kennedy Center, has to be sponsored?

13. On CNN’s entertainment homepage, there are several examples of how popular culture is emphasized.

14. An Exception to the Rule:
New York Times
Most news websites introduce arts and entertainment news as
“entertainment” on their home page, as we saw on the slide
discussing placement. Even in looking at how the New York Times
introduces arts and entertainment news on their home page (seen
left), it is clear that this organization takes a more serious stance on
this type of coverage.

15. Lorne Manly (seen on the left), the entertainment editor of The New York Times
answered viewers’ questions about entertainment coverage. One question
focused on how this news organization balances coverage of high culture and
low culture, and Manly’s answer gave a key example on the difference between
how this news organization covers pop culture in comparison to how tabloids
cover it.

16. A look at how The New York Times
expands its audience using social
media
The New York Times’ Facebook account is used to share a critique of a popular film with their
audience.

17. A look at how The New York Times
expands its audience using social
media
The New York Times created a twitter account simply for their arts beat, which is used to give its large
audience (of over 430,000 followers) instant updates about its arts and entertainment coverage.

18. Like most other news media, The New York Times puts something like the
image to the left in every article. By doing this, news websites attempt to get
their audience to use social media to share the news and information reported
in their publication. For example, if you click the “RECOMMEND” button
beside the Facebook icon (in the image to the left), you are given the option of
posting arts and entertainment news on your wall (screenshot example below).
These types of functions make the audience feel more involved, and audience
interaction is key to successful journalism. It also increases interests in the
news covered, allowing for it to be shared with people who may not be regular
visitors of arts and entertainment news websites.

19. The New York Times:
More Serious Arts Coverage
In addition to news and information regarding arts and entertainment, The New York Times
also provides an “Arts and Entertainment Guide”. This guide provides a list of upcoming
performances in arts and entertainment. It is sorted by “Critics Picks,” meaning each of
these shows has been chosen by a critic who believes they are of good quality. Here is a
screenshot:
DISCUSSION:
• What is the
benefit of this
type of tool for
the audience?
• How is it useful
for people
interested in arts
and
entertainment?
• Could it be used
for other arts and
entertainment
journalists? How?