What's with the rise of hate-filled female journalists in 2024?

It's time to wise up, Kids. Remember the #BeKind movement? There’s enough evil shit going on in the world, it’s time to put an end to the dragging down of women (by women). Capeesh?

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

So. I recently wrote an article on magazine journalism, and before it was published, I was asked to remove a specific angle from said feature. Now, twice this week I’ve been triggered by several more pieces I’ve read, so fuck it, I’m going to say it here.

That subject is women in journalism and the power they hold to change the narrative when it comes to reporting on other women.

I’ve wanted to write about this subject for years. You see, the more I reflect on my time within newspaper and magazine journalism the more it confirms to me that female journalists were utter bitches. Across the board. They were endlessly hating on other women. Shamelessly and unapologetically every day. Unfortunately, the brutal truth of the matter is hardly anything has changed in the eleven years since I scarpered from the journalism industry altogether.

So, I’m left asking the same question. Are female journalists the problem with the industry? And could things change if only they decided to make a step to change themselves, regarding how they approach covering female celebrities?

For example, just this week I was asked by a female journalist from a title to provide comment about “the downfall” of Jennifer Lopez’s career. Her love life, her career, her body...the lot. Erm, no. I’ve met J-Lo before, and she seemed great for our three minutes of chatting. So, would I want to comment (and bitch) on her life in the public domain? Absolutely not. Saying WHAT exactly? I don’t think my thoughts really add that much to the conversation and these days I’m careful about commenting on other people’s lives when I don’t know them. Who am I to judge? I much prefer to keep everything positive.

Then I read a properly ghastly feature online via The Spectator (no, I’m not spreading a link to this hateful shite but you can see a screen grab from my pal Jess Barrett below if you really need to see part of it) written by a female journalist regarding Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan. It shocked me to the core. A female journalist tearing into her acting skills, her body (even describing her as ‘fat’) and basically ripping into this actor who has the biggest moment of her career happening right now. FFS.

Look, in one way I get it. Happy stories don’t sell. Happy stories about celebrities don’t do anything for click throughs. Mean spirited snipey articles always lead to sales, reads and shares. But that’s partly due to what the consumer is fed / wants to read. The general public want the doldrums of a celebrity’s personal life. Always have and probably always will.

However, the reality of what these archaically minded female writers do to a celebrity themselves is horrendous. It isn’t exactly something new. It’s been going on for decades. They spread their evil hate across the media with their unnecessarily demeaning pieces – which they no doubt deem entirely appropriate for publication – and they often have a tonne of support.

But why are women in the media not trying to be better human beings in 2024? The internalised misogyny carried by some female writers is truly damaging not only to the celebrity, but to so much of celebrity journalism. They’re not pulling women up. They’re ripping them the fuck down and treading on them. It’s time to hold a mirror up to these female journos.

It got me thinking about my time back in the height of celebrity when I was working at the tabloids and at weekly magazines aimed at female readers.

When I recently wrote a feature for a national title recently about the celebrity world and all I’d been through, I included a few paragraphs about the fact I was shocked that upon reflection the entire newsroom floor when I was at Closer was full of women who were perfectly willing to throw another woman under the bus for sales. And they sold over a MILLION copies some weeks. Huge sales. Nowadays they sell less than 100,000 a week – but the ethos and look of the magazine hasn’t changed a huge amount.

The picture editors – who chose the shitty cellulite laden imagery of all celebrities - were female, the art team – who circled the cellulite and laid out the worst possible images of all the big names - were female, the editors who chose the, often poisonous, cover lines were women.

To be frank, I was one of only a handful of men on that magazine and rest assured – being honest – I’d occasionally have to write shite stories about women. I remember one feature I had to cook up about Denise Van Outen putting on weight which they teamed up with Denise on a sunbed by the pool in LA eating a burger. Denise was crushed by the piece and I fully apologised to her realizing the error of my ways. I eventually went on to work with her and I consider her a friend. The truth of the matter with this one? I shouldn’t have agreed to write such a shite piece about a woman’s weight. But back then weight stories were free game.

Sitting in conference with the women on that magazine was interesting because when I look back on it the phrases and derogatory terms used to describe female celebrities were insane. Back then celebrities were totally de-humanised to ensure we could report the story as we so wished. But does that make it acceptable? Nope. 

It took a very rare occasion for the women at the titles I worked at to have any proper sympathy for a celebrity going through some kind of trauma. Trauma sold.

Off the top of my head, Jade Goody’s cancer diagnosis was one of the only showbiz pathways that completely changed the magazine’s opinion of the reality star. Months before she’d been deemed a racist after the Shilpa Shetty Celebrity Big Brother drama, then she’s diagnosed with cervical cancer and POOOOOOOF she’s a hero. This happened time and time again. Playthings like Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears and many more were villains one day and heroes the next day. It was a trophy poaching sport for celebrity mags. We did with them what we wanted to.

I’m not saying I wasn’t guilty of this. I had my opinions. But often it was the bullying mentality held by female staff members and negative storylines that were thrown onto the front cover that FLEW off the shelves. After I left Closer, I went back for a period to grab some freelance shifts and earn some money. I immediately realised my morals had grown (or perhaps reverted back to normal human decency) and I ended up leaving my shifting early as I told the editor at the time I just didn’t want to be continually spewing venom week-in-week-out for the publication. It felt good to walk out the door. I could have done with the cash but my morals were firmly intact by then.

I was also continually judging and questioning where the sourcing was coming from on their stories. Often there were a handful of ‘sources’ who could easily work on a supply and demand basis with what the news editors wanted to achieve. Often a female’s peril and downfall and their mental and physical state were the winners. “She’s so stressed she’s lost 15lbs – let us see if we can get pictures of them looking thin and that could work”. You get my drift.

Now, obviously back then there were a handful of celebrities who would happily play the game, take a cheque and say whatever was needed to continue the conversation. Some celebs had no morals. They just wanted the cash payments (and they’d get paid up to £20,000 for a cover interview). It was like a version of AI with them – you could tell them what you needed to be said and they’d pump out a killer quote. Bingo bango. But not everyone was as thick skinned as those two.

It was when I was at the Sunday Mirror dealing with the venomous nature of my then editor Tina Weaver that things became truly extraordinary. She literally wrote the headlines before I’d even left to interview a female celebrity. Often, they involved weight, their love life, a marriage breakdown or something deemed controversial enough to sell a paper.

Tina wasn’t there to stand up for womankind. She was there to sell papers and didn’t give a rat’s ass about how a woman felt in real life. There was a severe lack of morals on all levels when it came to the tabloids.

Imagine if female editors like Tina had been there at the helm of a large (but now dwindling) Sunday newspaper and used the fact they were a female to support female celebrities more? You know, not use the rankest pictures, not add fuel to the fire for their mental breakdown, not hack their phones (allegedly, scoff) and generally just be a bit nicer to female names. How good would that have been?

Well, as I said above…back then sales would have nosedived because readers didn’t want the good news. They wanted the torment, the hellish life and the drama of a female celebrity’s downfall. In many ways it was a completely vicious cycle with the editors and writers wanting venomous leads on female celebrities and the readers only wanting to read the bad stuff. Back then the celebrity was never going to be given a break.

Another thing to consider, some of these horrible picture sets of somebody on the beach were taken in set-up shots where the celeb in question had worked WITH the snapper to get AWFUL images on purpose. Bad images = column inches and mega publicity, baby.

My point on septic female journalists isn’t just about the old days so much. It was rife back then but it’s frankly shocking and appalling that it’s still such a big issue today. Listen, everybody needs to consider the part they played in that showbiz machine. My point is why it’s still happening today.

Time and time again we are being reminded of the #BeKind movement and the fate of celebrities like Caroline Flack and others who succumbed to the pressure of fame and ultimately took their own lives. But when something horrendous like Caroline’s situation happens and there are shockwaves across the industry you think (hope) things might change.

EVERY female in journalism wrote a piece about it. Their thoughts, how we need to be kinder, how Caroline was amazing and the mark she’s left on society via their social media. The reality is those witches that momentarily became decent humans soon succumbed to heading back to stirring their evil cauldrons within weeks. Within month they’d moved on and forgotten how to be a better human. They’re back peddling their vileness across the media as soon as they think they can easily get away with it.

Sure, there are always going to be hideous and vile female writers at titles like the Daily Mail who need to earn a living and generally will write whatever poison they’re asked to for their overly large exclusive pay cheque. They don’t care about the backlash or the trolls. Their skin is metres thick. They will always pin down specific celebrities and rinse them for public amusement. But wouldn’t it be nice if female journalists and editors grew into the future with a more aligned feminist attitude. Supporting their own, swerved writing those asshole features and generally just took on the mentality of “if you ain’t got something nice to say keep it to your fucking selves”.

I’ve been sticking to this for a while now – definitely on my social media posts. It’s incredibly freeing to be positive and be a better human.

The women in journalism hold all the power to support other women and become better human beings in the process. They just need to bite the bullet and, to be frank, stop being cunts.

Until next week, laters.

P.S. Fully aware some people will call this piece horrendously woke bullshit. The reality – being woke is just being a better human. So pop that in your pipe and smoke it, peeps. Because I don’t give a shit!

P.P.S. I really would love to hear your thoughts…