Los Angeles - In the anything-goes world of Internet weblogs - so-called "blogs" - the last people you'd expect to see are huge Hollywood stars who pay fortunes to public relations hacks to micromanage every facet of their image.
But guess who you'll find pouring their hearts out at sites like www.moby.com, www.melaniegriffith.com, www.mariahcarey.com or www.onceadored.blogspot.com?
Okay, the last one belongs to actress and former TV talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell, but other sites are as self-explanatory as www.michaeldouglas.com, www.barbrastreisand.com, www.britneyspears.com or www.brucewillis.com.
What they all have in common is that they are used by huge movie stars to speak directly to their audience. Or, as the New York Post put it: "Celebrities have got something to say - and they're sick of publicists and tabloid editors getting in the way."
Continues Below ↓
The celebrity sites have more in common with the millions of blogs written by anonymous netizens than they do with the carefully crafted press releases that used to be the stars' preferred method of communication.
Now, celebrity websites feature personal journals, family photos and ramblings about politics, job stress and the minutia of everyday life, all of it written on the stars' terms without the oppressive glare of paparazzi and gossip columnists.
That's why people who are interested in celebrities could first learn the exciting news about Britney Spears' pregnancy on her own website, where she announced the happy event with the candid excitement you would expect from a young mother-to-be.
"The time has finally come to share our wonderful news that me and Kevin are expecting our first child together," she wrote, with only a minor grammatical fumble.
A few days later, she lashed out at magazine editors for hounding her.
"As you read this letter, I bet you are asking yourself: 'Who? Who, me?'" she blogged. "Am I a false tabloid? Well, I don't know. But after this posting, I hope you are asking yourself a lot of questions."
One of the most prolific celebloggers is Rosie O'Donnell, whose six-month-old site is already crammed with over 105 pages of musings - on everything from child care to shopping.
"It brings her closer to her fans," said her representative, Cindy Berger. "It's a creative outlet, which is completely unedited. She can write freely about anything, and she does. She loves doing it, and the fans love reading it. They're speaking directly to each other."
"There are hundreds of these blogs," says veteran celebrity publicist Ken Sunshine. "There's so much garbage written about celebrities, and blog sites are a place where they can control what's being said. They can say what they want to the public, and there is no editor or publicist to cloud it."
But Hollywood stars are not the only famous people to adopt the blog as a mouthpiece.
Former socialite Arianna Huffington, who also ran for California governor and has been a successful political columnist for several years, announced this week that she was forming a new group blog that she said would feature 250 of "the most creative minds" on politics, entertainment and whatever else her celebrity writers happen to have on their potent minds.
Among the people who have pledged to contribute - none will be paid - to www.huffingtonpost.com are actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diane Keaton, actor Warren Beatty, retired news anchor Walter Cronkite, playwright David Mamet, director Nora Ephron and writer Norman Mailer.
The site will carry advertising, and excerpts will be syndicated to newspapers by a sister company of the Los Angeles Times.
"This gives me a chance to sound off with a few words or a long editorial," said Cronkite, 88, the longtime face and voice of CBS Evening News.
"It's a medium that is new and interesting, and I thought I'd have some fun."
Other bloggers have voiced doubts about whether such successful and busy people will truly find the time to write interesting pieces and find interesting links for their readers. But in her solicitation letter to bloggers, Huffington promised them it would be easy.
"You're actually already doing the hardest work of a blogger: having interesting opinions and fresh takes on the hot stories of the day," she wrote. "We'll just provide a megaphone."
Ephron, the maker of the hit movie Sleepless In Seattle, seemed to sum up the cachet of the idea. She told the Los Angeles Times that she was attracted by the notion of countering what she saw as an inbuilt, rightwing slant of the corporate-owned mass media.
She added, "I might just have a cake recipe to share." - Sapa-dpa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
