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Grief porn is a pejorative neologistic expression often used to describe a hyper-attention, intrusive voyeurism and "gratuitous indulgence of tangential association with tragedy". It is usually used to describe the behavior of the news media in the wake of a tragedy. It is distinct from Schadenfreude in that it describes a forced or artificial commiseration in response to unfortunate events, whereas the latter refers to a joy at the misfortune of others. Commentators have noted that the distinction can be blurred by the 24-hour news cycle and its need to produce news stories.

Origin of usage

The term was reportedly first coined by Robert Yates, an assistant editor for The Observer in a news conference on April 7, 2005. Described as the following:

Grief Porn. (n.) Gratification derived from a tenuous connection to the misfortunes of others; the gratuitous indulgence of tangential association with tragedy; getting off on really bad news.

Yates was remarking on the phenomenon he first noticed following the death of Princess Diana and the media frenzy that occurred afterward. He further noted that it usually occurs in times of national mourning and international disaster, and commented dryly that it primarily affects people working in media.}}

Carol Sarler, speaking as a guest columnist for The Times (London), sarcastically notes that "this new and peculiar pornography of grief" is sometimes called a 'tribute', "the cruder truth is that ersatz grief is now the new pornography; like the worst of hard-core, it is stimulus by proxy, voyeuristically piggy-backing upon that which might otherwise be deemed personal and private, for no better reason than frisson and the quickening of an otherwise jaded pulse.

The Times's Daniel Finkelstein, defines the term as "a rather tasteless fascination with other people's disasters and a sentimentalism that is out of place", but considers it misapplied at times. Using the example of the Madeleine McCann a four-year-old child who went missing while on holiday with her parents, Finkelstein theorizes that "we don't follow the McCann case because we are grief junkies. Most of us follow it because we fancy ourselves as (Inspector) Morse.

In literature

The expression has been used a number of times in recent history.

References

1. ^ "Boo hoo, said the crocodile". ObserverBlog. The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
2. Carol Sarler (7 September, 2007). "This new and peculiar pornography of grief". Comment. TimesOnline. Retrieved 2009-06-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. ^ Daniel Finkelstein. "Can you solve the Madeleine McCann case?". Comment Central. Times Onlie. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
4. http://www.hippopress.com/film/moonlightmile.html
5. http://books.google.com/books?id=n0h2O_VVNDsC&pg=PA91&dq=grief-porn
6. http://books.google.com/books?id=IhTkZ6K8c3sC&pg=PA133&dq=grief-porn
7. http://books.google.com/books?id=BPGA3dWRjmcC&pg=PA180&dq=grief-porn

See also

• Misery lit

External links

• Urban Dictionary definition

• Neologisms
• Pop-culture neologisms
• Words coined in the 2000s