Humans cannot resist celebrity culture. Many of us long to know all we can about the lives of the rich and famous.
For the past week we've been transfixed by the disintegrating relationship between a promising cricket vice captain and a famous model. By contrast, we didn't care much about what the Indonesian president had to say, despite the significance of his visit to Australia's most important bilateral relationship, and the fact that the Indonesian economy could eclipse ours within a decade.
On Friday, Sydney's Daily Telegraph disingenuously reported on its front page that 'the very public relationship troubles [between Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke] continued unabated in the Eastern Suburbs. There were car chases, media packs and even a bidding war.'
We ourselves are hypocritical when we point the finger at the media for such outrageous behaviour while continuing to consume the products of such behaviour. Indeed it's our appetite for such prurient content that puts them up to it.
An obvious response to the unsavoury and often humiliating nature of celebrity media coverage would be to establish that it is detrimental to our society and to push for legislation to control it.
But celebrity culture is not all bad. There are many examples of celebrity being used to improve the lives of the disadvantaged.
Former cricketer Glen McGrath co-founded the McGrath Foundation to raise money for breast care nurses in rural and regional Australia. The Shane Warne Foundation helps seriously ill and underprivileged children. Warne's celebrity is also being exploited to help heal the rift between Australians and Indians following the allegedly racist violence against Indian students in Australia.
It is an unpalatable truth that media reporting of Warne's infamous text messages undoubtedly contributed to the celebrity status that is now being used to improve the lives of others. However it is also true that the good that celebrities do receives scant media attention compared with exhaustive reporting of the details of their relationships and their wealth.
Media coverage of the Shane Warne Foundation serves to magnify the good that it is doing. Moreover the ABC TV program Australian Story has shown that covering the altruistic activities of celebrities can attract significant ratings. But sadly few other media organisations appear to have the will to follow its lead.
Michael Mullins is editor of Eureka Street.