Scroll through the New York Times’ Instagram Reels and a new editorial strategy is immediately evident. Amid breaking news and investigative reporting are celebrities cooking in the Times’ kitchen, giving culture recommendations to the camera, and chatting with journalists in a format nearly indistinguishable from a celebrity video podcast.Charlize Theron opens up about her family trauma. Lena Dunham divulges the effect of online hate on her mental health. Taylor Swift discloses the personal backstory of a hit song. Even political actors get the clippable celebrity heart-to-heart treatment: Tucker Carlson, a teacup and microphone set before him at a kitchen table, reveals what it was really like to be in Donald Trump’s inner circle.It’s not just the New York Times. In a mad scramble for attention in an industry where traditional revenue models have collapsed and engagement reigns supreme, most legacy media outlets are likewise trafficking in celebrity-driven content. Meanwhile, the famous tabloid site TMZ has approached the merger from the opposite direction by opening a Washington bureau, with headlines no less tawdry than its usual fare.The danger of organizing our media around celebrity is clearest in the case of Donald Trump. In 2016, Trump was an unlikely presidential candidate — but, as a reality television host with a cable-news addiction and a flair for the dramatic, he made great headlines. The media discovered that covering him like a celebrity was extraordinarily good for business in an otherwise dire industry climate, and consequently treated Trump’s campaign as a mass media spectacle.At a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference in 2016, former CBS chairman Les Moonves acknowledged that Trump’s candidacy “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”“Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? . . . The money’s rolling in and this is fun,” Moonves said. “I’ve…
