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Popbitch is a weekly UK-based celebrity and pop music newsletter and associated website dating from the early 2000s. Much of the material for the newsletter comes from the Popbitch message boards, frequented by music industry insiders, gossips and the casually interested. The board has at various times been credited for celebrity rumours (both false and true) appearing in the press, and the invention and usage of many phrases. For Popular music (music that is popular, rather than of a specific genre or style), see Popular music. ...
History The website was the first of a slew of satirical and irreverent UK gossip sites that skirted the limits of defamation law. Its uncompromising ethos of cruel humour gave it a feel somewhat similar to usenet gossip newsgroups. Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ...
In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...
Humour (humor in American English) is the ability or quality of people, objects, or situations to evoke feelings of amusement in other people. ...
Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...
A newsgroup is a repository, usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ...
Popbitch was founded, is owned and run by Neil Stevenson and Camilla Wright, both journalists. Wright is employed full-time to run Popbitch. Stevenson is still a director, but his active participation in the project has diminished. [1] Originally published privately from a www.popbitch.demon.co.uk address, Popbitch has been published from popbitch.com since March 2000, and by Popdog Limited since 2001. Stevenson was employed by the British publishing house EMAP on various entertainment titles, including the celebrity magazine heat and as editor of The Face. EMAP plc is a British media company, specialising in the production of magazines, and the organization of business events and conferences. ...
Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by EMAP Consumer Media, and edited by Mark Frith. ...
Influential British magazine The Face was started in May 1980 by Nick Logan out of his publishing house Wagadon. ...
Editorial style of the newsletter The newsletter is focused on a British audience and is published weekly, usually on a Thursday. It usually contains celebrity-based stories relating to music, film, television and sport, with quirky stories from other fields.
The newsletter usually contains, in order:
- a short quote from a celebrity
- several multiple-paragraph stories separated by single-sentence stories or facts
- a section entitled Big questions with one or more allegations about unidentified celebrities presented in the form of questions
- a series of webpage links entitled Things To Make You Go Hmm
- predictions of the position of some artists in the UK singles chart for the week ahead
- a Help Popbitch appeal for gossip or money or presents
- a End Bit section where contributors are thanked, usually by initials or messageboard identity
- the Old Jokes Home usually a topical joke
- and one or more web links headed Still Bored?
Famous nicknames on Popbitch Fat Dancer = Robbie Williams To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Fat Tongue = Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE (born May 27, 1975), better known as Jamie Oliver and The Naked Chef, is a British celebrity chef. ...
Thick 'n' Thin = David Beckham and Posh Spice David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ...
Victoria Caroline Beckham (born as Adams, April 17th 1974-) is a British singer, originally in the girl band the Spice Girls, where she was known as Posh Spice. ...
Chazbaps = Billie Piper Billie Piper in The Canterbury Tales. ...
Chip Shop = Kerry Katona Kerry Katona in the Cradle video Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona (previously Kerry McFadden) (born 6th September 1980 in Warrington, UK) is a British television presenter and former pop singer with girl band Atomic Kitten, now living in Winwick, Warrington. ...
Cultural impact Its Big questions format, using a question format to present an allegation about an unidentified celebrity, has been used by several other British newspapers in their celebrity pages. Examples include the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror's Wicked whispers on their 3am Girls page. The 3AM Girls are the gossip columnists for the British tabloid The Daily Mirror. ...
By 2003, Popbitch had moved from a niche-market publication to mainstream cultural knowledge, thanks in part to its role in assisting British tabloid newspapers with their entertainment coverage [1]. It achieved frequent name-checks in newspaper "diary" columns, and from celebrities as diverse as Madonna and French and Saunders. Newspaper sizes in August 2005. ...
It has been suggested that Madonna documentaries be merged into this article or section. ...
French & Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and also the name by which the performers are known on the rare occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act. ...
It can claim at least a role in popularised terms such as Croydon (or council) facelift, "gak" (meaning cocaine), and "pramface" (a term of abuse contracted from "a face more suited to pushing a pram around a council estate"). In English slang, a Croydon facelift (sometimes Essex facelift, Council facelift or, on Merseyside, Scrawped) is a particular hairstyle worn by young women. ...
This article is about the drug cocaine. ...
For transportation of a baby or toddler there are special vehicles, special car seats, and devices for carrying. ...
De Beauvoir Estate, De Beauvoir Town, East London The council house is a form of public housing found in the United Kingdom. ...
It gained a reputation as being first with a number of celebrity-based stories. One poster reported David Beckham's move from Manchester United to Real Madrid at least four months before sports pages picked up on the story — then stood by the story in the face of repeated denials. It was also the first to report on the name of Madonna's son, Rocco. David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ...
Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at Old Trafford Football Ground, Manchester. ...
Real Madrid is a Spanish sports club best known for its football team which is ranked as The 20th Centurys Best Club by FIFA. They play their home games at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. ...
Controversy and criticism False allegations against Jeremy Clarkson, a British TV celebrity, and David Beckham, the footballer, were published on the Popbitch messageboards by its users. This led to legal action against the site's owners. The messageboard was closed and reopened with board members as editors. The editors have the power to modify or delete controversial posts, and the board also employs automatic censors that prevent the names of certain celebrities from appearing. Jeremy Clarkson in a typical pose Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born April 11, 1960 in Doncaster) is an English writer and broadcaster who specialises in motoring issues. ...
David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ...
Popbitch's promotion of neologisms such as pramface has led to journalist Julie Burchill to heavily and repeatedly criticise Popbitch for a systemic middle class bias, doing little more than denigrating those who get "ideas above their station". Burchill is thought to be a contributor to the messageboards, under a pseudonym. A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ...
Julie Burchill (born July 3, 1959 in Frenchay, a suburb of Bristol) is a British journalist noted for her acerbic writing. ...
Some sections of the media, and many of the regular contributers, suggest Popbitch's glory days are over, with wider exposure leading to an influx of new people and the launch of rival messageboards [2].
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