I used to be a tabloid reporter AMA

[AprilONeil]

Been meaning to offer up a thread on here for a while but tbh have been too nervous, since I know how people round these 'ere parts feel about the tabloids.

Anyway, I used to work as a showbiz reporter on a British tabloid newspaper (would rather not say which one because potentially outing) and have since moved into a more 'worthy' area of journalism.

AMA...

(Dons hard hat)

@fiveguy

Did you work for the s*n

Sorry, won't be saying where I worked because it might be outing

Do journos still drink far too much alcohol and do they still get free alcohol, taxis, coffees, movies, meals, concerts because people want to ‘buy’ good publicity articles in return for freebies

@Notmyrealname855

How often do you sit on stories for strategic or other reasons? Are there loads of interesting things you’d love the public to know but can’t reveal, like because of that superinjunction? (Don’t worry you don’t have to reveal!)

Yes sometimes we'd sit on stories for strategic reasons or because the news cycle was moving on or because an editor just got bored with it - we'd then inevitably be scooped by a rival which was annoying.

And yes definitely heard lots of great gossip we couldn't run - either because of injunctions or simply current privacy laws, which are actually really strong in the UK, or because - most often - we couldn't stand it up.

Not really a question but more of an observation...
Isn't it true that showbiz articles post unflattering pictures of a celebrity in a bikini, often only a few pounds over their usual weight, (or sometimes quite overweight), are intentionally printed with headlines calling her 'sensational' 'stunning' 'jaw dropping' etc, to encourage nasty readers to pile on and call her a whole list of insulting names?
It's quite obvious.
I sometimes wonder if the celebrity reads them and how they feel about them. I'd imagine it wouldn't matter so much if you're A-list and earning ££££, but for young, minor celebs, you'd want an incredible thick skin.

@MargotMoon

Anyone who has wanted to be famous in the last two decades knows what they're letting themselves in for, imho, and they've decided the perks - work in a career they enjoy, freebies, tons of money, adoration, having a platform, the ability to work as much or little as they want - outweighs the negatives.

You appear to be conflating 'anyone who wanted to be famous' with 'any person in the public eye'. Wanting 'to be famous' and being famous because you become successful in your field are not the same thing. And it is ok to garner publicity to promote a record/book/film, it does not have to sit hand-in-hand with having your private life raked over and being doorstepped and hounded.

Do you ever feel guilty for anything you have published?

I found that most people who are famous desperately wanted to be famous. For every famous person - whether in business or acting or whatever - are millions of people who do what they do without publicity. It's really not that easy to become famous, as any aspiring singer/model/whatever will tell you.

Yes, there are stories I've felt guilty about but as I said above in those instances they were genuinely private individuals who had an association with a celebrity.

Are there any really famous people who are the complete opposite of their public persona?

@midsummabreak

Do journos still drink far too much alcohol and do they still get free alcohol, taxis, coffees, movies, meals, concerts because people want to ‘buy’ good publicity articles in return for freebies

From what I've heard Fleet St has changed a lot so my experience re alcohol and freebies was extremely tame. Also because the industry is in such a precarious state I think most people are far too conscious about their jobs to be plastered all the time. The occasional journo who was didn't have a great rep and was seen as a liability

Freebies have mostly gone over to influencers so didn't have much experience of that either! Although occasional there'd be random stuff sent to the office, books or cereal bars or whatever. I don't ever recall it getting coverage.

@AlwaysOnAbloodyDiet

Not really a question but more of an observation... Isn't it true that showbiz articles post unflattering pictures of a celebrity in a bikini, often only a few pounds over their usual weight, (or sometimes quite overweight), are intentionally printed with headlines calling her 'sensational' 'stunning' 'jaw dropping' etc, to encourage nasty readers to pile on and call her a whole list of insulting names? It's quite obvious. I sometimes wonder if the celebrity reads them and how they feel about them. I'd imagine it wouldn't matter so much if you're A-list and earning ££££, but for young, minor celebs, you'd want an incredible thick skin.

Honestly no - I don't think that's true about purposely writing goady false positive headlines.

We would, however, run pics that we knew were unflattering (this was absolutely not my decision btw, way above my pay grade) but we would never make overt comments about them - either falsely positive or negative (which would be just plain rude).

The ones I really didn't like were pics of older famous women looking anything less than 100% glam and the implication clearly being "they look old". But again, the reality is readers do want to see celebs looking "real" because it makes them feel better about themselves.

[quote Notredamn ]Are there any really famous people who are the complete opposite of their public persona?[/quote]

Most of them I think!

Have you or would you have ever refused to write a story about someone because you felt it was morally the wrong thing to do?

Love this thread. Have worked in media (publishing) and have very close mates who are celeb agents and celeb pr- it is absolutely true that most (not all of course) famous people in the papers are there because they want to be. You can tell from the DM online that all through lockdown some UK British celebs were ‘helping’ by creating really silly stories, but the DM were clearly grateful to have them and run them as they need SO much content on a daily basis. I’d imagine the quid pro is that they run generally positive stories on said stars.

I personally work in a more boring part of media but my favourite thing to learn is who is lovely and who is horrible in private. Sometimes I think we can be a bit like ‘why on EARTH does so and so get so many jobs/so much air time’ and the simple truth is that in a sea of talented egos, that person is punctual, civil, hardworking and straightforward.

Why are the Any, Dec, Schofe, Willoughby tribe so untouchable?

Thank you for starting this thread.
What I want to know is how common is it for celebrities to obtain an injunction to stop publication or to pre-empt a negative story by giving a positive story to a rival paper?

Are the rumours about Boris and the violinist true ?

who's the nicest celeb you've spoken to? (If you can say anything without outing) and most surprising thing you've learned?

@restingrudeface

Have you or would you have ever refused to write a story about someone because you felt it was morally the wrong thing to do?

I have not put forward stories I've stumbled across for moral reasons, yup.

@Endlessmizzle

Love this thread. Have worked in media (publishing) and have very close mates who are celeb agents and celeb pr- it is absolutely true that most (not all of course) famous people in the papers are there because they want to be. You can tell from the DM online that all through lockdown some UK British celebs were ‘helping’ by creating really silly stories, but the DM were clearly grateful to have them and run them as they need SO much content on a daily basis. I’d imagine the quid pro is that they run generally positive stories on said stars.

I personally work in a more boring part of media but my favourite thing to learn is who is lovely and who is horrible in private. Sometimes I think we can be a bit like ‘why on EARTH does so and so get so many jobs/so much air time’ and the simple truth is that in a sea of talented egos, that person is punctual, civil, hardworking and straightforward.

It's definitely a symbiotic relationship between tabloids and celebs!

@OhioOhioOhio

Why are the Any, Dec, Schofe, Willoughby tribe so untouchable?

Excellent question and I genuinely have no idea. (Unfortunately I'm not quite connected enough) but there is a lot of crossover behind the scenes with editors and journalists moving into producing roles on telly so I wouldn't be surprised if that has something to do with it.

Also potentially losing access to say, the rest of ITVs output eg if they've got a big period drama coming up they might bar access to a publication who've previously written negative things about their star talent, even if it's on a different program. But that's just speculation.

Do you have a favourite celebrity?

@BitchyHen

Thank you for starting this thread. What I want to know is how common is it for celebrities to obtain an injunction to stop publication or to pre-empt a negative story by giving a positive story to a rival paper?

I didn't feel that injunctions were that common although they do happen, but maybe that's because the stories I was working on were rarely huge front-page splashes.

But celebrities/their PRs getting revenge by going to a rival - absolutely! Happened to me at least twice, where once they found out we had the story (because we always have to ask for comment) they would also give it to another publication just to ensure we didn't have an exclusive, even if they didn't want the story out there in the first place.

@Violetparis

Are the rumours about Boris and the violinist true ?

No idea! Again I've heard rumors (not specifically about a violinist) but with Boris it's just impossible to tell.

@Lelophants

who's the nicest celeb you've spoken to? (If you can say anything without outing) and most surprising thing you've learned?

Hmmm tough one. Most have been polite but not overly friendly - which makes sense. I'm not a fan of hers but Rita Ora was really nice when I met her although that may well have been because I was working for a completely different publication then lol.

Most surprising thing I've learned... I think it's almost inevitably that whenever a new rising star pops up they turn out to be related to someone already famous. So I'd often be surprised to learn that someone was related to someone else.

@KatherineJaneway

Do you have a favourite celebrity?

Not based on meeting them! I won't lie, it was always exciting to be around A-listers eg interviewing them on the red carpet or at a party. But you'd never get more than a couple of mins with anyone and the pressure was always to come back with a 'story' (which might just be a fun anecdote or something).

Was there any truth in the story that Marina Wheeler was the lawyer involved in the drunken incident at Waterloo station ?

What’s the most you’ve paid for a story/tip off?