Current Affair Shows

The other night, I was watching a Today Tonight segment titled as "Fallen Stars". Now I don't usually watch these kind of shows as I think most of the segments are of poor quality but it just happened I watched this particular one.

This segment was about some TV stars who claimed that they were falling on hard times. It was some previous aired clippings about Rowena Wallace selling her logies and other stars at the brink of homelessness yada yada yada. As much as I hate to say it, I don't sympathise with these so called stars as I think they should have been wiser about their investments and now have to face the consequences of poor decisions. However, it can happen to anyone at anytime.

Now here is where I'm going to criticise this segment. There are some facts that have been left out. Why you ask...perhaps it is easier to leave it out as it will make these people look like tragic figures that we should feel sorry for. These days, the media seems to love reporting stories about "woe is me". I don't exactly know why, maybe there is a demand for it who knows. Another reason is because we can relate to these people as they are going through what we go through everyday. In the past, we probably would have not known about situations like these as there were no media outlets. It is an evolutionary novel concept to care about those or report about people we have never met.

Some facts that have been left out of this segment particularly are how the stars decided to rectify their situation. For example the two former Wheel of Fortune Australia hosts. Yes they fell on hard times but the last time I checked, Baby John was a radio host in Perth while Adriana was studying to become a make up artist and work behind the scenes in television. Speaking of this when she passed on in 2010, the media once again decided to make her look even more tragic than she really was. For example "looking at the magazines about herself". Erm where is the evidence? If you are not in the spotlight anymore why would the media be interested. I mean once your 15 mins of fame is up, no one really wants to know what you are doing anymore. While this woman did have tragedies, like anyone else I'm sure there were positive moments in her life too. But no, let's focus on the negatives so we can get a story and make $$$ rather than see her as an individual.

Actually they did mention a star who was going to star in a Grease musical but as usual, TT made it look like that it was a menial job. Any job is better than no job right as it pays for our needs in everyday life. But sometimes, I don't understand why these people went to TT in order for their situation to be aired. There are many reasons such as perhaps teaching us to be more savvy with our savings and don't make the same mistakes or perhaps some are sympathy grifting. In my opinion, a couple of them are even making a career out of airing their woes on TV.  Despite this, I'm still a fan of some of these people too as no one is perfect.

Once again, this segment is over sensationalised and exaggerated. It made these stars look more desperate than they really were. I guess the media would not have much to report about without tragedies. Now I'm not against watching the news, in fact I think it is vital to know what is going on around us but there are two sides to every story. Not just what the mainstream media feeds us.

Do you think segments like these are accurate or are they exaggerated?

Oh and here is the link by the way, just so you know what I mean.  http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/celebrity/article/-/18466722/stars-fallen-on-hard-times/

Stay tuned for the next edition!

Until next time,
Laura xx