In the 21st century, there are many ways to achieve stardom, including some forms of fame that would not even be considered as near back as ten years ago.
YouTube has developed into an outlet that can create extreme fame, and now even fortune, due to the online application's ability to reach millions upon millions of viewers. Countless examples of personalities that strive on the outlet are all over the world, but fame from YouTube can often be found through silly things.
Michael Buckley, who hosts the YouTube show "What the Buck?" has developed a vast following based off of his abrasive and loud personality. An article by The New York Times' Brian Stelter shows just how Buckley made a fortune from working in his home and producing a limited number of videos.
While it is impressive that Buckley no longer needs to maintain a job outside of his videos, it also shows what a good portion of the world is looking for in terms of the content that they are consuming. Buckley's videos do not have any hard-hitting journalistic value and the type of content that he produces can be closely related to that of Perez Hilton, which is not typically considered a compliment.
So much of what grabs the attention of consumers in today's world is that loud and open personality, which is what Buckley has. He is not necessarily making a difference with what he says, but viewers keep on coming back to him because of his personality.
Popularity for this type of content is not a positive sign for the media landscape of America. A focus on more feature type stories and real journalism needs to be established in order to eliminate the paparazzi culture of spreading rumors and not providing factual information that is relevant to the lives of America's citizens.
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