New Weekly Faces Up to the Truth
In a radical departure from tradition, this weeks’ special issue of New Weekly has shunned the practice of publishing fictional articles and instead features only factual information.
New Weekly has been at the forefront of the celebrity fiction genre of magazines, publishing outrageous articles about local and international celebrities that bear no resemblance to actual events. This week, however, all of the articles have been carefully researched, checked for accuracy and are accompanied by headlines that reflect the actual contents of the article. In keeping with the truth theme, none of the photographs are Photoshop creations or the work of the paparazzi. Instead the photographs are only those which the subjects agreed to have taken.
Deputy Editor Zoë Barnes said that the magazine’s writers had run out of ideas for fictional stories and that editorial staff had taken the decision to experiment by publishing a special edition based only on factual information. Ms Barnes said “We have rehashed the same stories time and time again. We have written about every aspect of celebrity life: diets, eating disorders and associated weight gain and loss; plastic surgery; relationships and pregnancies; and, drug and alcohol addiction and rehabilitation.” Ms Barnes explained that the idea for the special issue was well received by New Weekly staff, “Some of our writers had never written factual stories before and enjoyed the experience immensely.”
Articles featured in the special factual issue include an in-depth interview with new mum Britney Spears in which she explains that she and husband Kevin Federline are very much in love and enjoying life with their new baby. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reveal that their relationship is a sham and that their engagement and Katie’s pregnancy are simply stunts to publicise the Church of Scientology. In the three pages devoted to the New Weekly Diet Club, the magazine warns of the dangers of fad diets and encourages sensible eating and regular exercise for steady weight loss over the long term.
In the Star Watch section of the magazine, a photograph of Jennifer Lopez dining in an exclusive Los Angeles restaurant with Ben Affleck was not captioned with innuendo about an affair but noted that it was great to see that two adults could dine together as friends without their partners. In other departures from the traditional fictional content, the astrology section has been dropped completely and all letters to the editor have been written by readers. Ms Barnes summed up by saying, “We believe that this could be an exciting new direction for New Weekly. Our readers are intelligent people and deserve intelligent writing about the celebrity world.”
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