Time was when gossip was a neighbourhood pastime. People travelled less, had limited horizons and a juicy tidbit about a neighbour or a relative provided endless entertainment. Not any more. In the multi-million gossip industry of the 21st century, neighbours and relatives have become insignificant.

Now, a huge range of gossip subjects ranging from news about the most flash-in-the-pan, minor, publicity-hungry peripheral 'celebrities' to the real international 'stars' are fuelling the ever-burning gossip bonfire and helping the professional gossip monger to laugh all the way to the bank. In the huge media industry which is globalizing at turbo speed because of new technology, the profession of a gossip writer has become one of the most coveted careers and many hanker to become one, if only to be perceived as ‘close’ to celebrities who seem to rule every page of the newspaper and the breaking news reports on every television channel.

The superfast industry of gossip writing has come to its present unprecedented prosperity because of several causes.

Information technology is burgeoning across the world like never before. State-of-the-art electronic equipment such as tele-cameras, computers that can perform magical feats of searching information, telephones and recorders, hidden cell phone cameras and other mini equipment make celebrity hunting and 'citizen' journalism or red-hand reporting an adventurous, thrill-packed profession which generates big money.

More and more journalists, camerapersons and film or TV producers are jumping on to this golden bandwagon because they see big money as well as fame or at least notoriety, as its sure benefit!

Of course, the popular concept of gossip journalism began long ago. There were famous journalists who wrote about equally famous Hollywood stars and increased the sale of their magazines. In our own country, Filmindia, edited by the vicious-penned Baburao Patel, set the trend of 'believe-it-or-not' or speculative journalism in which stars such as Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Madhubala were brought to tears of rage and frustration.

The revelations of their private love lives titillated readers and often ruined the family lives of the stars concerned.

An incident is worth remembering in this context. Shanta Apte, the versatile singing star of epoch-making films like Duniya Na Mane is said to have walked into Patel's office to hit him with a shoe for reporting that she had an incestuous relationship with her brother.

People curiosity
Despite such instances, at least in the film world, the trend continued and many more magazines were launched not on the basis of film news or the discussion of the quality of the films exhibited but on the private lives of stars and others connected with the social hi-circle. The private lives of stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Parveen Babi were fodder for the writers and columnists such as Devyani Choubal, Shobha De et al.

Soon it was time to apply the same technique to society celebrities. Painters, beauty queens, socialites, sports stars, business tycoons, models and designers, beauticians who styled stars and society divas — indeed anyone whose life could spin interesting stories was ground in the gossip mill.

Growing popularity
Many media experts have offered a probable theory for this wildly-growing popularity of gossip. One theory goes that today, all of us know much more about celebrities than about our own families. The celebrities are our world’s familiar strangers. The closeness of friendships and family ties has vanished into thin air and relationships do not stand the test of time under extreme urban stress and the killing rat race for money and the lifestyle it offers. The only way we can satisfy our people-curiosity is by reading about and avidly discussing the lives of those whom we may secretly envy for their looks, success, riches, achievements or lifestyle. The bizarre truth of our times is that while we know the most far-fetched trivia about society people and film stars, we may know nothing about our colleagues with whom we work every day or even our relatives who are family to us.

Additionally, there must be another reason for our insatiable hunger for gossip about people who really do not even affect our lives. The social scene in every country today is buzzing with minor, quick-silver celebrities who fuel our curiosity and fill newspapers columns or TV programmes. These celebrities are often famous for doing exactly nothing except attending parties or having affairs. Some of them hang on to the periphery of the real celebrity world and get into print somehow or the other. To the gossip writer, there is available a vast variety of criminals, rapists, smugglers, murderers, politicians, sportsmen, rich women about town, fitness-crazy men and women who are proud to show off their sculpted bodies at the drop of a hat and give sound bytes that make gossip mongers dance with joy, playboys, pop stars, 'professional' in-the-news people who can colour lives through news reports and talk shows.

"There is nothing any longer that can be called 'sacred' for gossip writers," says Dipti Gupta, a media writer, "even so-called real celebrities have no qualms about washing their dirty linen in public through the media. They are caught kissing, smooching or fighting in public so that the gossip press can blast the news worldwide and money pours in for news or the footage which is sold within minutes. The cell phone video of Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor kissing in a Mumbai restaurant is an apt example of a story that minted money for the television channels and newspapers who ‘broke’ it. Media persons understand this new age of opportunity and go to any length in harassing celebrities to fuel public curiosity. They are known to hound celebrities, provoking them to do or say something that would get the reporters brownie points from their employers and fame or recognition in the media world for accomplishing a sort of a feat.”

Free-for-all
This burgeoning 'detective-style' journalism, involving huge money, has spread its tentacles and earned huge money for the media across the world, except in countries such as France where privacy laws are so stringent that gossip writers 'divulge' secrets at their own risk. In other countries, especially in the US, UK and now in India, unless something truly serious happens as the aftermath of gossip reporting, there is no stopping the print or TV media. In the free-for-all scenario in India, for instance, gossip has become fodder for everyone — writer as well as reader.  It's there in heavy doses in your daily newspaper, on every TV channel, on the Internet and even in every group that gets together for a evening walk or a teenagers' party. It has become the true equaliser in a democratic society where all are free to enjoy a mix of truth and speculation about someone who lives in a distant land called 'fame city'.

What is more, the money that gossip reporting generates is taking writers to yet another land called 'fortune city'!