There are a number of downsides to being your own boss. But one of my favorite upsides is that I get to decide what stories I cover and which ones I ignore. To a certain extent, that decision is prompted by the realization that if I want people to find my reporting, I need to choose topics that aren't already being covered by a hundred other outlets. Or at the very least - as I did in the case of my Hollywood strike coverage - find a unique angle for my coverage.
I don't think I've ever written about Taylor Swift, even though she's had TV specials and other media projects that would be in my wheelhouse. I like her music just fine - I happen to think she's very talented. But I am more fascinated by the business side of her career. She and her team are adept at using the press to craft a specific vision of her for fans, and every public move seems to be as much a branding exercise as anything else. There are stories there to be told, but a journalist would have to expend a lot of time developing sources. And as is almost always the case with these stars, you are always one story away from having the weight of marketing machine slam you into a formless puddle of goo.
As a result, while there are hundreds of outlets expending editorial space on her personal life or some recent social media message, there is scant deep reporting on the more serious parts of her career.
You might have seen stories over the weekend of Swift's ill-fated concerts on Rio De Janeiro. The weather has been oppressively hot and a 23-year-old fan named Ana Clara Benevides reportedly died on Friday from what appears to be heat exhaustion.
So the entertainment press was filled with stories over the weekend highlighting Swift being "devasted" over the death and most of the coverage was just lightly rewritten comments from Swift's statement on Instagram:
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young."
But while the entertainment press coverage focused on Swift's feelings, other looming questions about the concert and I haven't read any in-depth examination of them in the often-fawning trade outlets.
First, despite Swift's statement that Benevides died "before" the concert, statements from local law enforcement as well as people who attended the concert with her stated she fainted early in the concert. And she was not the only one.
Local press reports state the heat index at the venue topped 135 degrees. Outside water was banned and the only option for fans was overpriced water sold by vendors inside the venue. And based on some local reporting, much of that quickly sold out. Promoters reportedly covered the grass of the field with sheets of metal to protect it. And thanks to the heat, the metal became so hot that it began burning some fans.
Rio's Fire Department said that more than 1,000 people were treated at Friday's concert after they fainted. There were also complaints that despite the heat and requests from fire officials, Swift's team set off her usual round of pyrotechnics inside the stadium, reportedly causing other injuries.
Despite the death and multiple injuries, Saturday's concert was canceled until three hours before start time, leaving thousand of fans who had been inside the hot stadium for hours irate and confused.
Predictably, most of the press and nearly every hard-core Swift fan is treating the death and other injuries as the fault of the venue and I have no doubt that contributed to the problem. But Taylor Swift has a well-oiled machine that provides extensive guidelines and conditions for venues. Having spoken to people in the past who have at venues that have hosted Swift concerts, her team is very aggressive about making sure that everything is in place and just the way they have contractually guaranteed. It seems unlikely to me that Swift's team seemed unaware of the potential problems ahead of the concert. So some percentage of the fault for the chaos has to fall on Swift and her professional team.
And yet, without journalists who are able to ask the difficult questions, we will likely never know. Perhaps the venue did completely fool Swift's team and there was no way they could have known what might have happened. But maybe not. And I'd like to see an answer to why it took so long for that Saturday concert to be rescheduled.
USA Today famously just hired a reporter whose job it is to report solely on all things Taylor Swift. But given the reporter also admits to being a huge fan of the singer, I suspect we'll have to look elsewhere for the hard-hitting reporting this story needs.
Maybe the Wall Street Journal will take on the challenge:
Never mind.
