ABSTRACT
This chapter uses notions of individualisation, authenticity and agency, among others, to explore the different roles that a lifestyle journalist adopts in her interactions with the audience in ‘below the line’ comments. Using the beauty section of The Guardian as a case study, it argues that these interactions bring together discourses that are personal and professional at the same time, very often merging the journalist as an individual and the organisation. The exchanges also illustrate how the realms of consumption, identity, self-expression and sometimes politics constitute an important dimension of lifestyle journalism, in line with a marginal yet important lineage of journalism research that argues that the private/public division in the field needs to be reconsidered.
