What happened to the news? When did it become so un-news worthy? Why with so many actual news stories happening in the world, does Paris Hilton’s release from prison deserve so much time and space on televised interviews and newspaper/magazine articles?
I love pop culture, really I do. I know that Paris Hilton was in prison for twenty-three days, I even have an opinion about her jail time*, but even so, I also know that Paris and her incarceration does not deserve one hundredth of the time the media spends on it. Besides the ‘reporting’ that the E Network might do on the case (they currently show ‘The Simple Life’ as part of their programming) there really isn’t much to add.
Although I heard her family tried to shop around her first interview post prison, here’s the kicker, Ms. Hilton isn’t forcing any of the news outlets or print media to cover the situation. Larry King and his producers chose to devote time a night interviewing her. Paris didn’t storm the studio and demand coverage. She was sentenced to 45 days in the pokey (I believe it was 45) which was reduced to half for good behavior. She was let go for ‘health problems’ early in her sentence and then snapped up again after an ambitious prosecutor made some noise about it (apparently forgetting that his own wife avoided jail time for also driving without a license, which, of course, in cases like this are the very things that come back to haunt prosecutors hoping for political careers).
I’m not saying that Hilton’s prison term in and of itself was not news worthy in the sense that it deserves some space. Paris Hilton is after all…Paris Hilton. She is a public figure who was given jail time and that in and of itself deserves some comment, BUT NOT PAGES AND PAGES OF COMMENTS! She is, after all…Paris Hilton. Her current media blitz may be geared to proving she isn’t the dullest knife in the drawer, but she will never be the sharpest either. Paris Hilton is after all…Paris Hilton.
Now that I have that rant out of the way, I’m moving on to the top headlines on the CNN website as of June 28th. I won’t even dwell on Fox News knowing that such a task would only serve to make me cry. On CNN.com the top four stories were actually news. The Supreme Court, Immigration Bill, and something about Palestine. I don’t know so much about the GOP touting about Democrats ‘broken promises’ because they are fine ones to talk since they have dragged this country into depths of financial debt while trashing the Constitution – so that ‘headline’ I’m on the fence about.
There was an article about two people being arrested in regards to a missing girl case in England. Although a missing child is tragic, this alone is not news beyond the parameter of her hometown or city…which, may I stress, is in England. By any stretch of imagination, is it international news.
With that in mind I would also like to add that I am DONE with these types of cases. Done, done, done. I am sorry that someone’s loved one (usually a white female no older than thirty who is either cute, if a child, or attractive, if an adult) is missing. I can’t even fathom how sad it must be for the family to find out that their sister/daughter/friend/girlfriend/wife/lover/mother was found dead, but ONCE AGAIN, this is not news beyond the community in which it has happened! When did these things start becoming soap operas, now international soap operas, that are played out before cameras, which incidentally should be focusing on what our governments are doing and not who killed Suzie Q? It is a bait and switch and I for one am no longer going to remain silent. Beyond anything else, I can’t imagine what it must be like for the families to deal with their loss while at the same time realizing that their grief is causing them fifteen minutes of fame!
The next headline was about the wrestler who killed himself and his family. Apparently, there was an odd Wikipedia entry before the bodies of his wife and son were discovered. The entry indicated that he wouldn’t be showing up to a match because he had to mourn the passing of his wife. This was sort of news in that the story itself is shocking and odd, but I don’t know if it deserves a headline per se, but I would allow it if I was a news editor.
The next headline was about cheerleaders who were killed in a plane crash (I think, I didn’t read it). Probably news, but then again, I wonder if it would still be widely reported if it were something like a bunch of juvenile delinquent boys headed off to some summer camp? It might be, then again, it might not.
There was the story about the seven year old girl trapped in a boy’s body. THIS IS NOT NEWS! Granted, it is an interesting story and there is video to match, but overall, this is a story of general interest, but isn’t a headline. There is no urgency to it. Most likely, she thought she was a girl a year ago, she will think of herself as a girl next year.
A passenger confronted a pilot while stuck on a plane. I’m rolling my eyes, sometimes people are too spoiled for words. I don’t know the circumstances, but I can smell the crazy.
The next story was about a bacteria that ate off a boy’s face and how doctors are trying to restore it. Yes, there is video! Yet, that alone does not make it a headline worthy story. See gender confused girl/boy comment above.
The article following bacteria boy was about the species of ancestors to house cats, and that is always news worthy! Following that is a story about the NBA draft and since I find most sports’ coverage a gigantic snore I feel I am not qualified to address is this topic was headline worthy or not.
With a Political Science degree you would think I would be more interested in the news than I am, but there is too much fluff and not enough substance, which overall leads me to conclude that most so-called ‘legitimate’ news sources are a waste of my time. In fact it is so bad that many nontraditional outlets, like ‘The Daily Show,’ which prides itself on fake news, is actually provides more real hitting news stories than most news other news sources. Although the main purpose of ‘The Daily Show’ is to make the audience laugh, it also informs. The only other platform where news seems as unfiltered is the news on National Public Radio, which needs no video to make a story worthy of a listen. What they can do with one sound bite is an epic novel compared to what most television stations do with the average house fire.
There once was a time when the network news was a separate division from network entertainment. It wasn’t expected to turn a profit but to provide a much needed service to our society. Somewhere along the line, all of that got mudded. Maybe it was because of CNN, maybe it was because ‘infotainment’ was seen as the future, but all I can say is that it isn’t working, and although some people may watch ‘news’ 24/7 we as a culture remain as uniformed about the world as if we were communicating through smoke signals.
* In case you were wondering my opinion about Paris Hilton and her jail term, it is this; she committed a non-violent crime and deserved to be punished, but probably not with a stint in jail. In fact, and yes this is news worthy, the United States per capita has the highest rate of imprisonment of all western nations. We are so bent on punishing people that we overcrowd prisons and let violent criminals go so that we can imprison the likes of people who have committed Paris Hilton worthy crimes. We do it even though it cost a bundle to keep people in prisons and actually decreasing funding for such public services like schools. I look at the money (and you know they spent it big time with a Hilton behind bars) used to incarcerate her and I have to ask why? Because she is a celebutard? Big F*&king Deal! Put an ankle brace on her, keep her within her compound for a month (hell, do it for the summer) and be done with it. Don’t saddle tax payers with some petty Paris revenge motive. In fact, why not do this for all offenses of this nature? If we as a society really want to teach people a lesson then let’s teach them a lesson on their own dime! That way prisons can focus on punishing/rehabilitating people who have committed violent crimes (BTW, the type of people I really want to be protected from) and the taxpayers don’t have to spend tons of money because John Smith Jr. was busted with pot in his car.
© 2007 Westerfield
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Comments: 22
George
The 'English' girl was a very young child, kidnapped in Portugal... and the people arrested were in Spain. Surely that IS international news?
Still, what you say is the straight-up truth, Lisa, and when we take away the witty presentation we are left with solid, common-sense statements that describe how far astray we have been led, and have willingly followed. Underneath the laughter is a world of ache.
The Roman games started out as parts of religious festivals. Then they started having games in celebration of military victories too. In the 400s in Constantinople the chariot racing fans had mini wars in the city. The Greens and the Blues--chariout racing team colors--supported different political groups. The dividing line was ostensibly the nature of the Holy Trinity. You think we have stupid political conflicts now? The emperor Justinian and his wife, Theodora supported different factions. The accepted theory is that they did it to keep the either the Greens or the Blues from gaining too much power. You think our politicians are slimy? :)
Larry King's audience tripled from 1 million to 3. That's why he interviewed her. He sounded underwhelmed by her performance in post interviews. I thought she handled herself quite well but ...
WAIT A MINUTE! Here I go again. I'm sending my brain out for cleaning (they won't come to your house anymore).
This is happening everywhere...newspapers are the media dinosaurs of our age...and network news on TV is a pitiful joke...never watch it. Even NPR has slipped. Freedom of the press is irrelevant if they don't do what a free press is supposed to do. A feisty free press is essential to a healthy democracy (or democratic republic if you're a nitpicker). I fear we are losing ours, not through government intervention, but because not enough people seem to care.
No matter where you get your news, it's going to be slanted to appeal to someone. I gave up and only watch the weather. Heck even that's wrong most of the time.
Ishbel, I heard a little about this case, and although the kidnapping itself seems as if it is an international incident by definition, I still stand by that the case itself is not international news. If it was, then there would be more reports about the kidnapping and transporting of women to many countries to be sold as either sex or domestic slaves.
Joanne, thank you! I think it is interesting that so many people feel the same way. There are a lot of people that want intelligent newscasts that address the needs of the many over the light fluffy trivia pursuit answers of the few.
Faith, thank you!
Kris, actually I think the officials were terrified that she might just wind up dead on their watch so they probably spent money they didn't have to make sure that didn't happen. Overall, I think that the media, once again, missed out on opportunities to really make the Paris Hilton story have legs in the sense of news. Report on the condition of prisons, or compare statistics about how there is a discrepancy in jail terms. I know in Missouri that if you are caught writing a bad check in one of the less populated counties you could serve as much time (and sometimes less) than someone who has committed manslaughter. The media could have done some cursory studies as to how ankle braces are affective or not. There are a lot of ways to report on the case (thus satisfying the Paris Hilton thirst that some of these reporters have) AND make the situation truly news worthy.
Dannielle, I'm from the Midwest, we do not have mountains, oceans, or unique geography to look at, all we have is our common sense which I think we mostly use to good advantage. It might be corny to note, but I feel much like Mark Twain at times observing that the Emperor is minus his crown, cloak, and underroos.
Nippy, I agree. That story had me looking up cat species and I truly learned something – for instance, I didn't even know that their were different species of cats in the wild that resembled domesticated kitties. Overall, these stories have their place, but they are not headline news. They are general interest, which is the same for the seven year old girl/boy, and the unfortunate lad with bacteria problems on the face.
BTW, interesting tidbit about Roman history. Keep it coming.
R. Scott, you missed the best part then, because I went off on the media next.
John, I was watching something else and switched to it for a few minutes because a friend of mine said she was going to record it. I thought it sounded boring and what I saw of it was boring. I did witness her reading some of her writing and wondered when she would be joining our Gather family.
Sarah, I agree. NPR is the way to go. I think someone commented that it too has gone downhill in terms of quality and I agree. I think this administration and some of the Congresses of the last year or so has really hit them hard. They are dependent on public money so such political antics be politicians really does affect them. I freely admit that I love pop culture, but the line has been blurred between important topics and non-important news and we need those lines put back.
Lisa, thank you so much! Allow me to take the time to publicly thank you for being a member of this community that truly keeps her head on her shoulders! I enjoy your comments and wit and hope that I will be blessed for a long time in being able to read them.
Bert, your comment almost made me cry! I have found that the more we have access to technology in terms of instant gratification, the less of it is gratifying. Why do we as citizens have to practically nitpick our ways around the internet to find news items that affect us, such as how our representatives voted on important issues, yet things that do not truly affect us get all the headlines. Yes, I know that looking at Paris might be more pleasant that looking at the affects the Iraqi War is having on the economy, but there was a time when news editors made decisions as to what was best for thinking citizens to read and watch versus what is easiest to present.
Amanda, that makes me want to SCREAM! I would love it if they did one of those 'People on the Street' interviews and someone just reamed them for the whole football player with pot story over the real story about funding. On many levels that is so wrong. Once again, someone, such as the football player, becomes the focus of a news story which takes on a life of its own because the news station is too lazy to report on what really is important. In many regards it is as they are willing to cause unnecessary harm on the psyche of a young man who may have made an boneheaded decision, all because it is easy for them to say tsk, tsk.
Shawn, I heard that some private enterprise made donations to the right candidates to obtain weather information that is funded by tax payers money, in order to sell it back to a few prestigious individuals that can afford their service. You can be an political spectrum and still find that the stuff presented as news is nothing but the nutritional equivalent of cotton candy.
Terry, I'm too the point of storming the Bastille if it would make a difference.
ok....
Enoch, it is a great term, but I can't take credit for it. To be honest, I don't know who came up with it, but I have read it several times.
Mugg, earlier today, I was thinking the same thing. It ties to wanting young women to do the news and then dismissing them when they turned older. This has morphed into also having young men reading the news. I think that the only people who qualify for time behind a news desk should be those who are fifty and older.
The senior female anchor on that station is older than I am--gotta be, she was doing local news when I was in my late teens. Her last facelift was probably one too many. I wish they were allowed to age.