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jaunthieI just don't get it.
While changing channels last night, I noted that CNN, HNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, and CNBC were all running non-stop coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Weird, I thought, and sad for her baby, but is this really news?
This morning I had a few minutes of spare time before heading out the door, so I turned on the TV to check headlines.
And it's still wall-to-wall coverage of Anna Nicole Smith being dead. On all the national news channels. Only the local news was covering what I would call news - you know, the current flu outbreak, the Libby trial revelations, the recent study on autism in children, the traffic and weather...you know, all stuff more important than a celebrity still being dead, 18 hours after she first expired.
Worse, the media blitz on all the 24-hour cable news channels wasn't focusing on what could be of interest/information to others about Ms. Smith's death. You know, whether depression might have played a part (either post-partum or stress-related or both) and how depression can affect anyone, or the importance of getting regular check-ups, that kind of thing. No, they're all obsessing over whether she choked to death on her on vomit, and whether her death might impact the ongoing multiple litigations she was involved with (news flash: it won't; lawyers don't generally let little things like death get in the way of a big civil-suit case).
Folks, the unexpected death of a person famous for being famous is not news. It is certainly not nonstopcoverage newsworthy. It's infotainment. Which of course is mostly what the big news outlets want. Dealing with real news requires both a) actual research and checking of facts (unless you're Lou Dobbs) and b) some dedication to the idea that television and news actually has some public utility and responsibility, and isn't just "lights in a box". Dead celebrity - it's an infotainment spectacular, requiring absolutely no journalistic integrity whatsoever. Wild speculation, incessant repeating of the same useless facts, yet another opportunity to drag out the same old hackneyed platitudes. So naturally, they're running with it 24/7.
Do the world a favor. Complain to your local cable company that the "news channels" they're providing you are anything but. Send a letter to your news-channel-vendor of choice. Or at the very least, refuse to watch the deathwatch. Maybe if enough people boycott these useless deathfests, the cable news companies will stop throwing them.
While changing channels last night, I noted that CNN, HNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, and CNBC were all running non-stop coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Weird, I thought, and sad for her baby, but is this really news?
This morning I had a few minutes of spare time before heading out the door, so I turned on the TV to check headlines.
And it's still wall-to-wall coverage of Anna Nicole Smith being dead. On all the national news channels. Only the local news was covering what I would call news - you know, the current flu outbreak, the Libby trial revelations, the recent study on autism in children, the traffic and weather...you know, all stuff more important than a celebrity still being dead, 18 hours after she first expired.
Worse, the media blitz on all the 24-hour cable news channels wasn't focusing on what could be of interest/information to others about Ms. Smith's death. You know, whether depression might have played a part (either post-partum or stress-related or both) and how depression can affect anyone, or the importance of getting regular check-ups, that kind of thing. No, they're all obsessing over whether she choked to death on her on vomit, and whether her death might impact the ongoing multiple litigations she was involved with (news flash: it won't; lawyers don't generally let little things like death get in the way of a big civil-suit case).
Folks, the unexpected death of a person famous for being famous is not news. It is certainly not nonstopcoverage newsworthy. It's infotainment. Which of course is mostly what the big news outlets want. Dealing with real news requires both a) actual research and checking of facts (unless you're Lou Dobbs) and b) some dedication to the idea that television and news actually has some public utility and responsibility, and isn't just "lights in a box". Dead celebrity - it's an infotainment spectacular, requiring absolutely no journalistic integrity whatsoever. Wild speculation, incessant repeating of the same useless facts, yet another opportunity to drag out the same old hackneyed platitudes. So naturally, they're running with it 24/7.
Do the world a favor. Complain to your local cable company that the "news channels" they're providing you are anything but. Send a letter to your news-channel-vendor of choice. Or at the very least, refuse to watch the deathwatch. Maybe if enough people boycott these useless deathfests, the cable news companies will stop throwing them.
