Latest / Mini Scroll / Celebrity Blind Items: The History, Popularity & Ethical Implications of Unverified Claims

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Celebrity Blind Items: The History, Popularity & Ethical Implications of Unverified Claims · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  With summer coming up, we're entering my favorite season of
• 0:03
  all, Margarita season. I love a classic, refreshing
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  Margarita on a hot summer's day to enjoy a barbecues, picnics
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  and on weekend getaways. For the perfect mark, I use Jose
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  Cuervo, the world's number one tequila brand.
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  A big thank you to Jose Cuervo for continuing to support the
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  pod and helping us produce content for all of you.
• 0:25
  Time to embrace Margarita season with Jose Cuervo and remember to
• 0:30
  drink responsibly. On November 30th, 2023,
• 0:34
  celebrity publicist Tree Pain took to Twitter in an
• 0:38
  uncharacteristic move. Not one to post statements to
• 0:42
  the platform, Tree shared a scathing message calling out a
• 0:46
  particular account for Newing to post unverified claims about her
• 0:51
  one and only client, Taylor Swift.
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  And the account that she was going after was one of the most
• 0:57
  famous celebrity gossip pages on Instagram.
• 1:00
  Dumois. In her post, Tree defended
• 1:03
  Taylor against Dumois's insistence that the pop star and
• 1:06
  her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn had a non legal marriage ceremony at
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  some point during their six year relationship.
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  Quote Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about
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  Taylor from Dumois Tree wrote over for a screenshot of Jumoa's
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  Instagram story where the account shared this rumor once
• 1:22
  again. There was never a marriage or
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  ceremony of any kind. This is an insane thing to post.
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  It's time for you to be held accountable for the pain and
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  trauma you caused with posts like these.
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  Jumoa hit back saying she quote makes $0.00 from lying and asked
• 1:42
  if publicist can say the same. While this heated exchange made
• 1:46
  headlines for the salacious drama, it also also sparked
• 1:49
  discussion about the ethical implications of the type of
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  content that Dumois shares. Though some of what she posts
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  does turn out to be true, more often than not, Dumois shares
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  tips and rumors sent in by random people online.
• 2:02
  Sometimes the tips feature celebrity names, and sometimes
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  they simply describe the celebrities involved and leave
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  it up to the reader to figure out who they're referring to.
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  For obvious reasons like slander and defamation, the latter is
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  significantly more popular among these accounts.
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  This type of post is called a blind item, and they are posted
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  by Dumois and other accounts like hers without any
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  verification or due diligence. To those of us who were raised
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  to cite our sources and triple check our work, it might sound
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  crazy that posting anonymous rumors and anecdotal claims
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  about celebrities could become a thriving media business.
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  But Tree Pain, feeling the need to defend her client Taylor
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  Swift against a baseless claim posted by Dumois indicated
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  something arguable even crazier. It proved that a lot of us,
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  despite no evidence or proof, are more inclined to believe
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  celebrity gossip and blind items over the celebrities themselves.
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  This is an exploration into the culture of celebrity blind
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  items, from its origins to its rising popularity in recent
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  years, and of course, the ethical implications of this
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  type of gossip content from Centennial World.
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  I'm Lauren Meisner and this is Infinite Scroll, a podcast about
• 3:19
  Internet culture, the creator economy and how social media is
• 3:22
  shaping. Jen said.
• 3:24
  Welcome back to infinite scroll, everyone.
• 3:26
  I'm so excited to get into this episode.
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  I wanted to tell you guys about the inspiration for this
• 3:31
  episode. So obviously we have covered
• 3:33
  Dumois here and there on this podcast and like blind items and
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  things like that and I engage in them.
• 3:39
  I love a little bit of gossip. You know, that's part of what
• 3:42
  makes this podcast fun, especially mini scroll.
• 3:45
  But I found it so interesting earlier this year when I
• 3:48
  interviewed celebrity memoir book club and Claire brought up
• 3:52
  that people nowadays are more inclined to believe blind items,
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  which are completely baseless anonymous tips, right?
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  Rumors basically about celebrities then believe the
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  celebrity when they tell, you know, via a publicist, an outlet
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  or even themselves on Instagram or TikTok when they tell their
• 4:10
  own stories. So that kind of got me thinking
• 4:13
  about why the culture of blind items has become so popular in
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  recent years, especially because they've been around for a long
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  time and what it is about this specific like a moment in time
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  that has made blind items seem more quote UN quote credible
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  than hearing information from the horse's mouth.
• 4:33
  But before we get into it, as always, Please remember to rate,
• 4:36
  review and subscribe. Please sign up to our
• 4:38
  newsletter, which is also called Infinite scroll.
• 4:41
  On Fridays, we round up the five biggest thing pieces on the
• 4:44
  Internet that week and please star rate US on Spotify.
• 4:47
  We are trying to get to 500 Spotify star ratings by the end
• 4:50
  of the year. Over the years online, most of
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  us have probably come across a blind item at some point, even
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  if we didn't realize it. These pieces of gossip about
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  public figures, where everyone involved usually stays
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  anonymous, have become a big part of celebrity culture.
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  Whether it's about a pop star's relationship status or an
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  influencer's financial struggles, blind items cover it
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  all, and no public figure is off limits.
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  For those who aren't fully familiar with blind items, it's
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  just what you'd expect. It's not your typical gossip or
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  news where we know exactly who or what is being talked about.
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  Instead, it's more like a Riddle or a puzzle, dropping hints
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  about a person or situation without revealing all the
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  details. The clues could be something as
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  vague as a list YouTube or actor, slash writer, slash
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  director, or more specific, like the influencer behind a coffee
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  company, which many of us would instantly link to Emma
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  Chamberlain. There are several reasons why
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  someone might choose to leak a story through a blind item
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  instead of of using a name. It could be a fear of being sued
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  by a celebrity for defamation, not wanting to be a
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  whistleblower, or simply avoiding the heat that comes
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  with making such a claim. Whatever the reason, these posts
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  have given pop culture enthusiasts unprecedented
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  insights into celebrities and their lives, or perhaps more
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  accurately, the lives we've created for them.
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  It's well established that the blind item originated in the
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  early 19th century, initially used as a form of blackmail.
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  However, the exact origins of the blind item remain unclear.
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  Some sources suggest it began across the Parisian press.
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  However, a majority credit a man named William Dalton Mann, who
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  published a magazine called Town Topics in New York as the
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  pioneer of the phenomenon. Town Topics was probably the
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  equivalent of today's gossip magazines.
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  Think People or Page 6 quote. Town Topics was a weekly
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  magazine equally loathed, loved and feared by the moneyed class
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  of the Gilded Age. Joe Pompeo writes for Town and
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  Country magazine. Under Man's stewardship, Town
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  Topics became both a trenchant chronicler of the 1% and a
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  vehicle for MAN to join its ranks.
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  Members of the elite paid sums with the expectation that Man
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  would keep their peccadilloes out of his publication.
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  Since then, blind items have gone through brief periods of
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  revival. In a 1970s edition of Ladies
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  Home Journal, American novelist and screenwriter Truman Capote
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  noted that blind items were particularly popular in the
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  1930s and 1940s, for instance. But the modern obsession with
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  blind items really took off in the 90s, fuelled by the rise of
• 7:31
  gossip blogs and tabloids. We actually touched on this
• 7:34
  topic in our recent deep dive, Chapel Rhone and the plight of
• 7:37
  celebrity access, so check that out if you're curious about how
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  gossip blogs shaped celebrity culture and access.
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  As we concluded in that episode, the 90s and 2000s were a
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  transformative era for pop culture with the birth of
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  blogging. While not all iconic blogs focus
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  solely on celebrities, many became the go to source for
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  inside scoops about the most popular stars.
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  Blogs like Gawker launched in 2002, and outlets like TMZ, Just
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  Jared and Perez Hilton, all of which opened in 2005, were
• 8:09
  relentless in covering celebrity relationships, rumors, and
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  scandals. Dubbed the tabloid decade, the
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  2000s saw celebrities relying on these outlets for visibility,
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  even as the attention often crossed into invasive and
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  uncomfortable territory. Women, in particular, were
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  frequently trapped in a harsh cycle of public scrutiny.
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  By the mid 2000s, as Anne Helen Peterson wrote for BuzzFeed
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  News, celebrities had become quote largely beholden to
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  paparazzi and gossip blogs, and blind items had become a key
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  tool for these outlets to share controversial and outright
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  unverified news without risking legal backlash, cementing their
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  place in an increasingly ruthless gossip ecosystem.
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  Quote in the 90's, the blind item enjoyed a renaissance of a
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  juicy celebrity columns like Page 6 and the Village Voice,
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  which published anonymous, unconfirmed bits of gossip
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  concerning the rich and famous that would be sure to get
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  readers talking, while the publication itself could steer
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  clear of any potential lawsuits. Rachel Brodsky writes for the LA
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  Times. But in 2000, 1006 blind items
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  reached new heights of popularity with the launch of
• 9:19
  Crazy Days and Nights. The blog would cover anything
• 9:23
  from sexual transgressions to drug addiction to corruption in
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  the industry. Its founder, known as NT,
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  claimed to be an entertainment lawyer but kept his true
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  identity a mystery for nearly two decades.
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  In a piece for Vulture, Lila Shapiro cited NT's first post to
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  explain why he created Crazy Days and Nights.
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  Quote In his first post, NT wrote that he'd started the blog
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  because he was in a unique position of being able to tell
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  you what really goes on behind the scenes and what even the
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  gossip magazines can't find out. Shapiro shares.
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  His access seemed impressive and he quickly became an icon in the
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  gossip world. So much so that Vanity Fair
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  declared NT the King of the Blind item in 2016.
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  Quote NT has been a direct source for gossip that evades
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  the normal channels of celebrity news and feeds directly into the
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  internet's never ending appetite for the juice.
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  Mahira Bonner rights for the publication, but his primacy in
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  the field is largely due to the one feature of his publishing
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  ethos that completely distinguishes him from his
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  rivals. He names names.
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  While NT managed to stay anonymous for most of his
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  career, it all went awry during a messy legal dispute earlier
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  this year. The story begins with a woman
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  named Cassandra Cross, a fan of Crazy Days and Nights and an
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  aspiring podcaster, and he would eventually go on to work with
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  her. But their professional
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  collaboration soon turned personal, and he assured
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  Cassandra that he was single despite actually being married.
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  When Cassandra uncovered the truth and Auntie abruptly
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  entered their relationship, she threatened to expose his
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  identity to prevent further fallout, and he filed a
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  restraining order against Cassandra, a decision that only
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  escalated the drama. Cassandra retaliated by starting
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  her own podcast, where she detailed their affair and
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  accused Auntie of being manipulative and abusive.
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  On her Patreon, she shared explicit messages he igniting an
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  even bigger scandal that ultimately unmasked the creator
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  to be a man named John Nelson. Quote Internet sleuths and
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  eventually a reporter for The Daily Beast dug up the court
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  documents he'd filed and confirmed that Nelson was in
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  fact anti lawyer. And so the gossip Blogger became
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  the gossip. Shapiro continues, of course,
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  and he wasn't the only one capitalizing on the growing
• 11:40
  interest in blind items. Around the same time, Laney
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  Gossip was also making waves. It started as an e-mail among
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  friends in 2003 and gained popularity through word of
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  mouth. Eventually, it launched as a
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  website in 2004 and has maintained popularity ever
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  since. While magazines and blogs might
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  have been the original homes of the blind item, the format feels
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  perfect for social media. The internet's love for tea,
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  whether true or not, is no secret, and platforms like
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  Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have given blind items a new
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  life. This shift has paved the way for
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  accounts like Dumois to thrive. Dumois skyrocketed to virality
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  at the beginning of the pandemic.
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  Originally a lifestyle blog created by two friends, the
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  account posted style, inspiration and pop culture
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  memes, but this soon changed. After asking her approximately
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  45,000 Instagram followers for celebrity gossip during the
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  early days of COVID-19 lockdowns, Dumois went viral for
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  reposting the responses on her Instagram story.
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  Fast forward to today and Dumois boasts over 2 million Instagram
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  followers with subreddits and Facebook groups that exist to
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  discuss all of her updates. Much like the modern day Gossip
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  Girl, Dumois thrives on followers.
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  Submitted Tips With user submitted blind items becoming
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  being a favorite among fans, these blinds tap into the thrill
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  of detective work, allowing followers to speculate and
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  engage in fan level discourse. What truly sets Dumois apart,
• 13:07
  however, is how the account democratized gossip.
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  By empowering her audience to both submit and interpret
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  information, Dumois has made celebrity news a collective
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  experience. Once a blind is posted, fans
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  rush to Tiktok and Reddit, dissecting clues and guessing
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  which a Lister might be involved.
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  This not only fuels user engagement, but also serves as a
• 13:30
  get out of libel free card for Dumois, shifting the
• 13:33
  responsibility of speculation onto her followers.
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  For a long time, Dumois own identity was shrouded in
• 13:40
  mystery, but by May 2022, the veil was lifted.
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  Internet culture reporter Brian Feldman did some sleuthing of
• 13:47
  his own, revealing on Sub Stack that Dumois was run by two
• 13:50
  women, Maggie Kepner, a fashion designer and the granddaughter
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  of socialite Nan Kepner, and a woman named Melissa Lovallo.
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  In addition to TikTok users discussing blind items from
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  accounts like Jumois, some have seized the opportunity to turn
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  their obsession with blind items into full-fledged influencing
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  careers. A popular example is Shannon
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  McNamara. She rose to viral fame by
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  relaying blind items and offering timely analysis on pop
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  culture. Her insights into the latest
• 14:19
  celebrity gossip and theories eventually led to her launching
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  her own podcast, Fluently Forward, where she discusses
• 14:25
  everything from pop culture to conspiracy theories and of
• 14:28
  course, blind items. I personally love Shannon's work
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  and I was actually on her podcast last year, so I'll put a
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  link below to listen. Another example is the TikTok
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  account at Celebrity Blinds, which post blind items daily.
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  While this account has less of a personality or creator presence
• 14:45
  behind it than Shannon's account, it still capitalizes on
• 14:49
  the same fascination with celebrity gossip, giving users a
• 14:53
  steady stream of blind items to dissect and discuss.
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  All that to say, the blind item has a storied history.
• 15:00
  While it's always had a certain intrigue, it's clear that Gen.
• 15:03
  Z has reignited the obsession with this type of gossip and
• 15:07
  information sharing, and we've got a few theories as to why.
• 15:11
  The first is the oversaturation of the celebrity brand and the
• 15:15
  growing transparency of the celebrity PR machine.
• 15:19
  Celebrities have always been treated as businesses, but today
• 15:22
  it seems to be happening more than ever.
• 15:24
  Rising consumerism, social media, and a growing hunger for
• 15:28
  representation have intensified the commodification of
• 15:32
  celebrity. These days, every aspect of a
• 15:34
  celebrity's identity, from their style to their personal life,
• 15:37
  has become a marketable product. Celebrities, whether they're
• 15:41
  single singers, actors or influencers, are increasingly
• 15:44
  seen as corporations and branding opportunities rather
• 15:47
  than individuals shifting their primary role from creating art
• 15:51
  to generating profit. A prime example of this is the
• 15:54
  rise of the pop star era. And no, this is not just limited
• 15:58
  to Taylor Swift. From the likes of Ariana Grande
• 16:01
  to Billie Eilish to Sabrina Carpenter, artists differentiate
• 16:04
  between albums and tours with carefully curated aesthetics.
• 16:08
  Think of Ariana Grande's Latex Bunny years from her Dangerous
• 16:11
  Woman album, or Sabrina Carpenter's Kiss motifs through
• 16:14
  the Short and Sweet tour. These visual markers create
• 16:17
  instant recognition for an era. As for why these eras are
• 16:21
  important for the artist, Tyler McCall writes for Elle.
• 16:24
  Creating and revisiting these visually disparate eras isn't
• 16:28
  just useful in distinguishing album cycles, it also creates a
• 16:32
  fuller picture of the artists themselves.
• 16:34
  Fans feel more connected to a multi faceted musician.
• 16:37
  Taylor Swift has undoubtedly elevated the concept of the era,
• 16:41
  turning it into a cornerstone of modern celebrity marketing.
• 16:45
  With this, art and branding have become inseparable, with a
• 16:48
  celebrity's brand becoming the product.
• 16:50
  This phenomenon isn't limited to the pop music scene either.
• 16:53
  More and more we see actresses method dressing to align with
• 16:56
  their roles, transforming press tours into carefully curated
• 17:00
  extensions of their on screen characters.
• 17:03
  Take the recent Barbie and cricket press tours as prime
• 17:06
  examples. These campaigns illustrate just
• 17:08
  how vital this strategy has become for building hype and
• 17:12
  keeping audiences engaged. Don't get me wrong, this has
• 17:16
  always been a thing, but these days we are much more attuned to
• 17:19
  it than ever before. And part of this comes down to
• 17:23
  COVID. COVID-19 stifled most of
• 17:26
  Hollywood's age-old traditions. With award shows canceled and
• 17:30
  red carpet attendance restricted, the business of
• 17:33
  being a celebrity was effectively shut down.
• 17:35
  Even as the constraints of the pandemic eased through 2021 and
• 17:39
  2022, by no means was the world totally back to normal.
• 17:44
  This shift brought about two key changes that arguably fueled the
• 17:47
  rise of blind items in popular culture.
• 17:50
  First, lockdown expanded the scope of interesting celebrity
• 17:54
  gossip. With the entertainment world
• 17:56
  grinding to a halt, so did the salacious celebrity gossip that
• 18:00
  we have become accustomed to. So celebrity gossip enthusiasts
• 18:04
  had to to adapt to a world where, honestly, not much was
• 18:07
  happening. And with that, what constituted
• 18:10
  celebrity news became, unsurprisingly, UN newsworthy.
• 18:14
  Consider Dumois as an example. During COVID, she thrived on
• 18:18
  reposting celebrity sightings from her followers.
• 18:20
  Her Instagram highlight was full of tips like Haley and Justin
• 18:24
  Bieber sitting next to us now or Kim K is at CVS.
• 18:28
  Ultimately, celebrity gossip became less about breaking a
• 18:31
  major story and more about documenting everyday moments,
• 18:35
  broadening the scope for blind items.
• 18:38
  Secondly, lockdown gave us plenty of time to step back and
• 18:41
  analyze celebrity culture and its PR machine with some
• 18:45
  distance. This only intensified with the
• 18:47
  rise of TikTok and the popularity of PR and marketing
• 18:51
  focused creators like Girlboss Town, whose real name is Robin
• 18:54
  Delmonte. Robin skyrocketed to virality
• 18:57
  with her breakdowns of celebrity trends and her marketing advice,
• 19:00
  giving everyday users a behind the scenes look at how celebrity
• 19:04
  PR works. She helped demystify PR moves,
• 19:07
  showing how celebrities and brands strategically plan
• 19:09
  stories or manipulate narratives.
• 19:12
  This, in turn, has left many TikTok users to become more
• 19:15
  skeptical of the way that celebrities share information,
• 19:18
  with many of us now aware that a lot of what we see is carefully
• 19:22
  curated. That brings us to our second
• 19:24
  theory. The rise of misinformation and
• 19:27
  citizen journalism across social media has fueled interest in
• 19:31
  blind items. To be clear, misinformation and
• 19:34
  citizen journalism are two distinct phenomena, but together
• 19:38
  they've played a role in the rise of blind items and our
• 19:41
  growing tendency to believe them, no matter how untrue each
• 19:44
  story might sound. Before diving into this
• 19:47
  entirely, we should pause for a moment to explore citizen
• 19:50
  journalism and its impact. Put simply, citizen journalism
• 19:54
  refers to everyday people, AKA non professional journalists,
• 19:58
  taking on the role of reporting news or sharing first hand
• 20:00
  accounts of events. Platforms like TikTok have made
• 20:03
  this easier than ever. Democratizing who gets to tell a
• 20:06
  story and giving the average user a platform to cover news or
• 20:10
  serve as a primary source. This shift has clear benefits.
• 20:14
  It brings attention to underreported events and
• 20:17
  amplifies marginalized voices often ignored by traditional
• 20:21
  media. But there's a catch or two.
• 20:23
  First, the rise of citizen journalism has widened the trust
• 20:27
  gap between audiences and traditional media.
• 20:30
  When citizen journalists cover stories that mainstream outlets
• 20:33
  ignore, or when they frame issues in ways that feel more
• 20:36
  authentic, it deepens skepticism toward traditional media and the
• 20:40
  publication process. This distrust often extends to
• 20:44
  how mainstream outlets report on celebrity news, also making
• 20:47
  people more willing to buy into the whispers and speculation of
• 20:51
  blind items. Second, while citizen
• 20:54
  journalists can offer valuable perspectives, they're not held
• 20:57
  to the same standards as established media outlets.
• 21:01
  This lack of editorial oversight means their reports can
• 21:04
  sometimes include unverified or incomplete information.
• 21:08
  While this may be unintentional, the impact can be the same as
• 21:11
  spreading misinformation or disinformation.
• 21:14
  That's not to say that these mistakes can't happen in
• 21:16
  established newsrooms or within traditional mastheads, but
• 21:20
  rather that certain guardrails and processes are put in place
• 21:23
  to limit the spread of inaccurate reporting.
• 21:26
  As we move away from these media sources, audiences are seeing
• 21:30
  more and more content that may not be as thoroughly researched,
• 21:33
  edited, or verified. Of course, this isn't true of
• 21:37
  all citizen journalists or news influencers.
• 21:40
  Many work extremely hard to ensure the information they
• 21:43
  share is accurate, but the formalization of this type of
• 21:46
  content has let audiences grow accustomed to consuming
• 21:49
  unverified content, which ultimately primes them to accept
• 21:53
  even more speculative forms of storytelling like blind items.
• 21:58
  On top of this, as misinformation and
• 22:00
  disinformation become increasingly pervasive online,
• 22:03
  the line between verified news and rumors keeps getting
• 22:07
  thinner. The rise of misinformation
• 22:09
  online has been analyzed to death by social media experts
• 22:12
  and commentators, but many argue that the downfall of Twitter,
• 22:16
  now X was the final nail in the coffin.
• 22:19
  Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter has drastically altered the
• 22:23
  platform, and not for the better.
• 22:26
  From enabling anyone to purchase verification to allowing bots to
• 22:30
  flood timelines, these changes have supercharged the spread of
• 22:33
  misinformation. This marked a major loss for
• 22:36
  online news culture as Twitter had once been the go to platform
• 22:40
  for breaking news in real time. While Community Notes have
• 22:43
  provided a small buffer against false claims, their impact is
• 22:48
  limited. They can flag misinformation,
• 22:50
  but they can't reverse the deeper issue.
• 22:52
  A platform once synonymous with news credibility is now seen as
• 22:57
  chaotic and unreliable. For better or worse, the Cracks
• 23:00
  and Exes Foundation have reshaped how we consume and
• 23:04
  trust information online. That being said, in a world
• 23:07
  where misinformation is thriving and journalistic boundaries have
• 23:11
  blurred, it's no surprise that blind items have found fertile
• 23:15
  ground. Whether we're aware of it or
• 23:17
  not, the line between verified news and rumors keeps getting
• 23:21
  thinner. The normalization of
• 23:23
  conspiratorial thinking in the digital world has intensified
• 23:26
  this even more, bringing us to our third theory behind the rise
• 23:30
  of blind items. Over the past few years, we've
• 23:32
  witnessed conspiracy theories shift from fringe spaces to
• 23:36
  mainstream politics and pop culture.
• 23:38
  This shift didn't happen in a vacuum.
• 23:41
  It resulted from several factors.
• 23:43
  One of the most frequently cited reasons is the rise of populist
• 23:47
  leaders like Donald Trump. His anti elitist rhetoric and
• 23:50
  style have redefined how many people view authority, fostering
• 23:54
  an environment of deep skepticism toward established
• 23:57
  institutions and expertise. Combine this with the endless
• 24:01
  flow of misinformation online, and you have social media users
• 24:05
  who question just about everything They encounter.
• 24:08
  Conspiracy theories, which once existed on the periphery of
• 24:11
  common discourse are now firmly planted in the mainstream.
• 24:15
  Take Pizzagate, for example. This conspiracy theory exploded
• 24:19
  in the 2016 US election, claiming that members of the
• 24:22
  Democratic Party were involved in a child trafficking ring.
• 24:26
  Although it has since morphed into the broader Q Anon
• 24:28
  movement, it was originally amplified through platforms like
• 24:32
  4 Chan, Reddit, and Twitter. Platforms like Reddit and
• 24:35
  Twitter have made conspiracy theories more accessible to the
• 24:38
  general public, pulling them into the mainstream.
• 24:41
  Adding fuel to the fire is the role of influencers, some of
• 24:44
  whom actively promote conspiracy theories.
• 24:47
  While many of these influencers cater to niche audiences,
• 24:51
  there's a more subtle, pervasive danger when mainstream creators
• 24:55
  dabble in this type of content. Take Shane Dawson, who really
• 24:59
  solidified his online presence through the mid to late twenty
• 25:02
  10s with a mix of conspiracy theory videos and documentary
• 25:06
  style videos. Shane's content ranged from
• 25:09
  lighthearted speculation, like questioning whether Chuck e
• 25:34
  Even seemingly harmless conspiracies can push people
• 25:37
  down a slippery slope, priming them to believe unverified or
• 25:41
  blatantly false information. But creators like Shane who
• 25:45
  blatantly cover conspiracy theories for entertainment are
• 25:48
  not always the most harmful. We tend to see more damage done
• 25:52
  by influencers who covertly support conspiracy theories and
• 25:58
  push that support to their audiences.
• 26:00
  Influencers in the health and Wellness space are arguably some
• 26:04
  of the biggest culprits here and have long been criticized for
• 26:07
  spreading myths and disinformation, encouraging
• 26:10
  their audiences to do their own research, ignoring advice from
• 26:14
  experts and professionals, and ultimately introducing their
• 26:17
  followers to the well established Wellness to all
• 26:21
  right pipeline. That being said, this cultural
• 26:23
  shift towards speculation and distrust has undoubtedly
• 26:27
  contributed to the rise of blind items.
• 26:29
  Much like conspiracy theories, blind items thrive on the idea
• 26:32
  of uncovering hidden realities, making them a natural fit for an
• 26:37
  increasingly skeptical and investigative audience.
• 26:40
  And this growing skepticism amongst audiences leads us to
• 26:43
  our final reason why we suspect there is such an interest in
• 26:47
  celebrity blind items. They feed into our negativity
• 26:51
  bias. For anyone that regularly
• 26:53
  consumes blind items, you'll be well aware that they often lean
• 26:57
  negative, focusing on upsetting or damaging information that can
• 27:02
  cause harm to a celebrity's career.
• 27:04
  People naturally gravitate toward negative news as it tends
• 27:07
  to have a stronger impact. We've covered the human
• 27:10
  negativity bias on this podcast before, but for anyone who isn't
• 27:13
  familiar, negativity bias refers to our natural tendency to focus
• 27:17
  on bad news. It stems partly from our
• 27:20
  survival instinct to stay alert to potential threats, and partly
• 27:24
  from a morbid curiosity about just how chaotic things can get.
• 27:29
  Back in 2014, researchers Mark Tressler and Stuart Soroka at
• 27:34
  McGill University in Montreal ran a study that showed we're
• 27:37
  more drawn to bad news than good.
• 27:39
  The reason being that deep down, it's part of human nature to
• 27:43
  think of our own lives as better than most.
• 27:46
  BB CS Tom Stafford, covering this research, explained it like
• 27:50
  this quote. When it comes to our own lives,
• 27:53
  most of us just believe we're better than average and that,
• 27:56
  like the cliches, we expect things to be all right in the
• 28:00
  end. This pleasant view of the world
• 28:02
  makes bad news all the more surprising and salient.
• 28:06
  It is only against a light background that the dark spots
• 28:09
  are highlighted, so our attention to bad news may be
• 28:12
  more complex than just journalistic cynicism or a
• 28:16
  hunger springing from the darkness within.
• 28:19
  O Our fascination with bad news isn't just about media spin or
• 28:23
  some inner darkness. It's more nuanced than that.
• 28:26
  This belief that we're better than average is known as
• 28:30
  illusory superiority. Several theories try to explain
• 28:33
  why we see ourselves this way, but a big one is egocentrism.
• 28:37
  That's where we focus more on our own skills, traits, choices,
• 28:41
  and actions than anyone else's. When we consider the rising
• 28:44
  interest in blind items within that context, it becomes clear
• 28:48
  that negativity bias plays a role in this morbid fascination.
• 28:52
  Hearing gossip, drama, and bad news about celebrities feeds our
• 28:56
  ego, as these are the people who are supposed to have it all.
• 28:59
  Western society has largely put the status of celebrity above
• 29:03
  all else. So hearing about how these
• 29:05
  people that we idolize don't have perfect lives, that
• 29:09
  humanizes celebrities and confirms our illusory
• 29:12
  superiority, making us feel like we might actually measure up to
• 29:15
  these people if it weren't for different circumstances.
• 29:19
  And the rise of TikTok over the last few years amplifies this
• 29:22
  interest in blind items, as content on TikTok is driven by
• 29:26
  high engagement rates, which accounts can often achieve by
• 29:30
  sharing drama, gossip, or negative news.
• 29:34
  While there are surely other reasons for the rise of
• 29:37
  celebrity blind items that I haven't covered here, there's no
• 29:40
  doubt that this phenomenon, though admittedly very fun to
• 29:43
  engage with, comes with a host of ethical implications that we
• 29:48
  cannot ignore. Aside from the obvious concerns
• 29:50
  around normalizing information that is completely unvetted, the
• 29:54
  core ethical dilemma of blind items revolves around balancing
• 29:58
  the public's right to information with an individual's
• 30:01
  right to privacy. This friction is even more
• 30:04
  amplified when we consider that the majority of blind items
• 30:07
  don't necessarily fall under the category of public interest
• 30:10
  information, nor are the subjects of these blind items
• 30:13
  often granted the right to reply, which is a core
• 30:16
  journalistic principle given names are usually kept
• 30:19
  anonymous. This lack of journalistic
• 30:21
  integrity when it comes to blind items adds to the public's
• 30:24
  projection of mainstream media and helps normalize the
• 30:27
  acceptance of unverified claims. And of course, we couldn't talk
• 30:31
  about the harm that blind items 'cause without considering how
• 30:34
  this type of content impacts the subjects of these tips and
• 30:37
  rumors. Blind items cause harm to even
• 30:40
  the biggest celebrities who are constantly involved in Internet
• 30:43
  fodder like Taylor Swift, who I mentioned in the intro.
• 30:46
  If Taylor, who was a veteran celebrity at this point and
• 30:50
  rarely addresses rumors about herself, eventually reached a
• 30:53
  breaking point with these blind items, imagine how upsetting
• 30:56
  these rumors can be for those less experienced in the public
• 31:00
  eye. Though there is ongoing
• 31:01
  speculation that publicist and talent managers also submit tips
• 31:05
  about their clients to these accounts as part of a wider
• 31:08
  media strategy, the harm to the celebrities public image and
• 31:12
  their mental health no doubt cancels out any benefits of
• 31:16
  these accounts. All that to say, I am not
• 31:18
  sitting here on any high horse. If you listen to this podcast,
• 31:22
  you know that I am all for a little gossip.
• 31:25
  I regularly report on speculative stories, and I have
• 31:29
  definitely partaken in blind item culture over the years.
• 31:33
  But given what we've explored, it's clear that the ethical
• 31:36
  implications of blind items clearly represent a symptom of
• 31:40
  larger cultural and social changes, and have, at least in
• 31:44
  some small way, contributed to the normalization and acceptance
• 31:48
  of these changes. As we sit here today in 2020 24,
• 31:52
  there's extreme distrust in mainstream media and those in
• 31:56
  positions of power. While a healthy skepticism for
• 31:58
  power structures is positive, trusting the claims of the
• 32:02
  online rumor mill can harm a media landscape that depends on
• 32:05
  trust to function. Being bombarded with unverified
• 32:08
  claims, many of which may be false, undermines fact checked
• 32:12
  reporting and ultimately can cause harm to those on the
• 32:17
  receiving end of those claims. Infinite Scroll is a podcast
• 32:21
  produced, presented and Co written by me, Lauren Meisner
• 32:24
  for Centennial World. This episode was researched and
• 32:27
  written by Annabelle Ben David. Editing is by Shawn Watkins and
• 32:31
  me. Thank you so much for listening.
• 32:34
  I love you guys and I will talk to you next week.
• 32:36
  Bye.