Paris: Media circus heats up
2007-06-24 14:05
Los Angeles - Sick and tired of hearing about Paris Hilton? Then pack your suitcase and head for a desert island because America's most famous celebrity inmate is about to be a free woman again.
After a brief lull in headlines following her early release and dramatic re-imprisonment on June 8, the media circus that surrounds Hilton will hurtle into overdrive once more when inmate 9818783 is released here Tuesday.
Hilton, a one-woman pop-culture phenomenon, said in an interview from behind bars at Los Angeles' Century Regional Detention Facility this week that she will emerge from incarceration a changed woman.
"I just can't wait to see my family and have a nice meal and be in my own bed and appreciate all the things I took for granted and never really thought much about," she told the E! News entertainment television show.
Life-changing
"In a way, I'm really glad this happened because it changed my life forever," said Hilton, who was jailed for violating probation in an alcohol-related driving offence.
"I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I want to use my fame in a good way."
But whether Hilton's desire for a more simple life will lead to fewer appearances in the media spotlight remains doubtful, experts say.
"If you want to not hear about Paris Hilton then you should try and find the island where those people on the television show 'Lost' are trapped," said Robert Thompson, a professor in pop-culture at the University of Syracuse.
"Because even if you're in outer space there are going to be interviews and stories beaming out from the planet in every direction ... No-one is safe from this stuff."
Interviews
Hilton is already reported to be lining up a blockbuster one-on-one interview with US national broadcaster NBC next week.
NBC has flatly denied reports that Hilton will be paid up to 1 million dollars to appear on the "Today" breakfast show and chat with anchor Meredith Vieira, saying the network does not pay interviewees.
However, media experts say NBC or other networks jostling for the Hilton scoop could sidestep their rules by paying the multi-millionaire for the right to use private photos or videos, which she could then be interviewed for under the guise of promotional work.
"The question is really how to pay her without calling it paying," said University of Southern California professor Larry Gross, an expert in media and pop culture. "How do they find some formula that doesn't embarrass the network while at the same time gets them the interview?" Gross added.
While Gross described the blanket coverage given to Hilton's legal woes as "almost completely indefensible on any journalistic grounds," he acknowledged the drama of her in-and-out jail saga was "hard to resist."
Starring role
Thompson meanwhile said Hilton's travails were in keeping with a long-established need for the occasional shaft of light relief amid the doom and gloom of weightier headlines.
"On one level the amount of coverage Hilton gets is absolutely absurd in that it is not news of any kind," Thompson said. "But there is always a vacancy in society for frivolous nonsense."
"Is this as important as 50 000 other things going on in the world that news resources could be used for? Clearly the answer is 'No'.
"But at any given time there are 20 or so mega-celebrities who transcend everything, and at the moment she is playing a starring role in that bubble."
Thompson said he was skeptical that Hilton's party-loving public profile would be scaled back as she declares herself a changed woman.
"I certainly wouldn't bet the house on that happening," Thompson said. "But who knows? Maybe she is growing up. After the past couple of months, maybe she is getting tired of the role she plays as the rich, beautiful party girl."
If Hilton was determined to eschew the spotlight it would be possible - provided she made dramatic changes to her lifestyle, Thompson said.
"If she starts reading a book for an hour before retiring to bed at 21:00 every night, stories about her will dry up because she'll cease to be interesting to us," Thompson said.