Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell was, without question, one of the most influential journalists in U.S. history. His legacy informs, and even structures, our contemporary media environment. Yet he is almost entirely forgotten. That fact attests to both the ephemerality of celebrity in the broadcast age and to widespread ignorance about the origins of our current media ecosystem. Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip, an episode in Pbs's American Masters series, reminds its audience that long before the rise of Donald J. Trump, the intermixing of entertainment, celebrity, and political news attracted huge audiences while generating enormous financial and political rewards. The challenge faced by Ben Loeterman, this documentary's producer, director, and writer, was in squeezing the story of such an influential figure into less than one hour. Using archival materials, voice-overs by Stanley Tucci imitating Winchell, and interviews with prominent media historians—including Winchell's biographer, Neal Gabler—Loeterman maintains a rapid pace

Art · Entertainment · Gossip · Ignorance · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication