http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/29482.html



Posted on Sun, Mar. 04, 2007

We have seen the future, and it's not pretty
By CARL HIAASEN


Now that Anna Nicole Smith is at long last departed from Florida, it's time to confront a simmering disgust over the media's salivating treatment of this dreary event.

Was the press coverage excessive? You bet.

Mindless? Inevitably.

Tasteless? Rapturously so.

But this is the new New Journalism, which is steered by a core belief that people would rather be smothered by seedy gossip about dead ex-Playmate junkies than be bothered with the details of North Korea's nuclear program.

Like the Don Henley song says, crap is king. We are merely here to serve.

If you Googled Anna Nicole's name last week, you got 28.8 million hits -- 10 times more than that of Condoleezza Rice, who is only the U.S. secretary of state.

Debate all you wish about whether the public's interest is fueling the Anna Nicole overkill, or the overkill is inflating the public's interest. The fact is, lots of people are hungry for the story -- and not because they care one bit about this poor woman, or her child.

It's necro-tainment, that's all. The five-car pileup on the interstate. The stunt plane crashing at the air show. The train derailment, caught on tape.

As soon as Smith's death became known, a small army of print and broadcast reporters swarmed to Fort Lauderdale, grabbed spots in the shade outside the courthouse and began tracking the day's legal proceedings, which they dutifully regurgitated to their readers and audiences.

Not since the O.J. Simpson murder trial have so much manpower and so many resources been thrown at a story of so little ultimate consequence to society.

Scoff, if you will, at the hyperventilating TV coverage of the Smith case. You think it's easy trying to make Anna Nicole sound important enough to justify three minutes and twenty seconds of air time? That's a tough job, folks.

Here you've got this deceased person who had no discernible talent whatsoever, a pitiable and often incoherent soul who perished in a shabby and unoriginal way.

Yet, day after day, you must with all seriousness face the cameras and present Smith's demise (and its messy, freak-filled aftermath) as a matter of pressing significance.

How does such a forlorn cliché become elevated to major breaking news? Many journalism students are probably pondering the same riddle.

The answer isn't pretty. In a nutshell: Former Playboy centerfold turned rich widow turned reality-TV star suddenly dies, leaving an infant of uncertain paternity and a potential fortune up for grabs.

Story-wise, the angles are beauty, sex, money and greed -- classic tabloid ingredients and, now, a premium formula for mainstream media.

For a competitive industry that's fighting to maintain profit levels and market shares, covering Anna Nicole is relatively cheap and easy, a quick hit; modest investment, maximum return.

Another factor heightened the frenzy: She expired in South Florida, which in February is a dream destination for any journeyman reporter. Had Smith passed away at a Holiday Inn in Buffalo, the throng of invading media would have been much smaller -- and far more eager to leave.

Now the circus shifts to Nassau, where visiting journalists face a dicey new challenge: How to conceal their windsurfing lessons and casino losses on their expense accounts.

It's money that could be spent in pursuit of serious news in Darfur or Pakistan, or even back home where there is likely some crime and corruption waiting to be exposed.

But this is a new dawn for modern journalism. The smelly stuff that was once left to the capable vultures at the Star and The Enquirer is now front-page fodder in your hometown paper, and the lead story on the six o'clock news.

Dead or alive, celebrities rule. And it's never been easier to become a celebrity.

Although the Anna Nicole blitz hasn't much illuminated or informed, neither has it been a total waste of time. For example, attentive readers and viewers picked up some helpful information about how quickly the human body decomposes, both before and after embalming.

CSI Miami, eat your heart out.

Don't make the mistake of dismissing the Smith story as an anomaly; it's a media watershed. If the death of a hapless, doped-up ex-model can knock two wars out of the headlines, there's no end to the squalid possibilities.

We have seen the future, and it's in the gutter.

Messed up women sure make the media! Where's the reporting on the messed up men? How about the men who exploited the women in their lives...now people are fighting for custody over Anna Nicole's baby not because they care...they care about the money the baby stands to inherit! There's the Britany Spears thing, Paris Hilton moment by moment report, Anna Nicole Smith, the astronaut who was charged with intent to murder....I suppose if a woman messes up, it's expected, she's a woman...but when a men messes up its not his fault, it was the alcohol acting out! Get real folks! Every person is accountable for his or her own actions. Duh!!! The media has double its effort to report on irrevelent things...this I believe there's more reasons other than the ones listed in the article...to distract the world from real problems and to hide, as much as possible, how serious they are...for instance, water shortage isn't making the news but in maybe less than 5 years or so if not sooner, the United States may suffer from severe water shortages that will make the Dust Bowl era and the Great Depression seem like a walk in the park. The other reason...moral standards are gone from society so there no more personal accountability.

As I heard on the Glenn Beck show a few Fridays back (paraphrasing):

Today's news media is the modern equivalent of the Roman coliseums. Throw 'em to the lions and watch the carnage!

Think on that one for a bit.

Mercifully in Christ,

Mike

study the Praetorian Guard...and find out what time it is...
you will see that history is repeating itself...circle within a circle...

blessings,
signet

3/5/2007

BURP AND AMEN!

I think that the media love all the hype! They could show her with all her body parts hanging out!
That's what makes the news! Yuk, Yuk Yuk,
j