Celebryta jako autorytet

Studium przypadku kreowania autorytetów medialnych

Abstract

CELEBRITY AS AUTHORITY: CASE STUDY OF CREATING PERSONAL MEDIA AUTHORITY

The topic of this article is the figure of personal authority created in media. The author discusses different concepts of real (genuine, traditional etc.) personal authority and media (false, fake, pseudo) personal authority. Then the process of creating media personal authority is described: one of the methods is publishing the results of surveys about the issue. The research part of the article is devoted to the publication of Pudelek (a gossip website) entitled Which celebrity is the personal authority for the Poles. One name reigns. (THE SURVEY) and the comments at the discussion forum below the article. 581 posts from the forum are analyzed to examine the reaction of Pudelek’s audience for the act of creating the personal authorities and to discover the main dimensions of the personal authority perception as described in the readers’ comments. Five dimensions are discovered and described: Expertise, Communication skills, Morality, Attitude to the Community and Success. The common model of personal authority is surprisingly close to the concepts discussed in scientific papers. The author concludes that even the readers of Pudelek, the gossip website, are skeptical about the media personal authorities.