Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The jury's finally out on US Weekly's Black Widow 'Fingergate' scandal

A couple of years ago US Weekly printed this article featuring Black Widow and her 'obscene' gesture (hey, let's be honest, most of us see or do worse on a daily basis). This week, a decision was finally handed down in the case brought to the courts by various complainants to the print media's regulatory body.

After more than two years of bureaucracy and hand waving, the magazine walked away without a scratch. Who knows how much it cost to make this decision, but it appears to have been mostly made on the basis that the finger should no longer be considered obscene due to the lack of repercussions for civilians, should they use it in public.

What does this mean for celebrities who use it as a way to ensure paparazzo images cannot be sold for profit? This article is a prime example of conjecture and hyperbole being used to sell magazines, particularly considering almost all of the information on the page has (unsurprisingly) proven to be almost entirely untrue.

How do you feel about the use of perceived obscenity in the media? Should we aim to keep our magazines largely innocent, or is the acceptance of over the top attention grabbing headlines more of an issue?

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