‘We look after our own’: The cultural dynamics of celebrity in a small country

• Main Authors: Lyn Barnes, Jeremy Olds
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pacific Media Centre 2013-10-01
• Series: Pacific Journalism Review
• Subjects: Celebrity; Content analysis; Gossip; New Zealand; NZ Woman's Weekly; Sensationalism
• Online Access: https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/219

Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, where celebrities are often subjected to derision in the tabloid media, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, the country’s longest-running women’s magazine, respects and values its local celebrities. A content analysis of cover lines on the magazine over the past eight decades reveals that although the magazine has adhered to a steadfast formula of celebrating mothers and wives, there has been a steady shift to a focus on the love lives and scandals of foreign celebrities. More recently, however, the magazine has turned its attention to well-known New Zealanders and developed its own brand of celebrity news.