Writing about entertainment is changing with the times. No longer limited to previews and reviews, editors for consumer magazines and daily newspapers have taken new looks at how reviews, criticism, and entertainment features extended beyond the routine. New weekend sections have been created for newspapers. New departments in magazines are parts of redesigns. These publications have broadened how they cover the arts and entertainment and they have added more depth. Entertainment journalism is growing to full maturity along side the more-established opinion-based reviews and critiques ( Bednarski, 1993; Bunn, 1993; Hellyer, 1993; Vawter, 1993).
Many aspiring nonfiction writers associate writing artistic reviews and criticism as a glamorous career filled with opportunities to mix with both the famous and infamous artists of our time. The work is attractive to beginners in the news media because reviewers and critics are often working at the cutting edge of such creativity as filmmaking, book writing , television program production, music and dance performance, and theater production. Perhaps the lives of those who do reviewing and critical writing are often filled with glitter, bright lights, and black ties for the successful few who are nationally known full-time reviewers or critics of the arts. For most people who do reviewing or criticism, it is a part-time specialization and seldom offers the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Reviewing and critical writing are still two of the most popular forms of feature writing among young writers. With the strong appeal of the performing arts to young adults in particular, it only makes sense that many beginning writers seek to develop talents as reviewers and, ultimately, as critics.
