|
Stop
wasting our airtime on celebrities
Media
coverage of the Michael Jackson trial is
an enormous waste of time. While the coverage
is a venture in raving triviality, the greater
offense is the utter lack of news value
present. America's culture of celebrity
has led to a deep fascination with fallen
stars. Because of that, the deviancies and
quirks of stars' lives have earned the designation
of news. This needs to stop. The Jackson
trial would be the perfect place for the
end to begin.
Jackson,
who earned fame and fortune through his
smooth dance moves and massively appealing
pop music, has again become the subject
of scrutiny and litigation. This is nothing
new for Jackson.
The
rumors of perversion and pedophilia first
started in 1990, when allegations of misconduct
forced Jackson to shell out $2 million as
a settlement.
Eleven
years ago he was accused of taking far too
intimate an interest in a 13-year-old boy.
Much to the regret of the scandalmongers,
tabloids and entertainment rags, a $20 million
settlement made the issue go away and a
big trial was avoided.
That
didn't stop the media. Anybody who buys
their own groceries has seen the occasional
bout of speculation gracing the covers of
various tabloids and celebrity magazines.
Those who make even occasional efforts at
watching pseudo-news shows such as Entertainment
Tonight have, at one point or another, become
aware of the latest Jackson shenanigans,
usually involving snide remarks and supposition.
It
is exceedingly amusing to watch the rich
and famous try to dodge mud slung by low-rent
media outlets. There is a special, perverse
and subtle pleasure in seeing mud hit its
mark. It's entertaining to see, but there
is no real purpose.
The
trial isn't relevant to the public, and
it's certainly not relevant to college students.
The subject is barely worth presenting in
a satire page. Child molestation jokes stopped
being funny after a long bout of mediocre
jabs at Catholic priests. Only a paper as
spectacular as The Onion could be capable
of beating humor from this dead horse.
There
should be no debate over the news value
of the trial. It has none. The development
and results of Jackson's adventures in the
judicial system have no pressing effect
on the course of our Online lives. So he's
been accused of molesting another 13-year-old
boy. Anybody with even a partially developed
sense of ethics can agree that's bad.
We
don't need nightly bulletins telling us
the color of the suit that Jackson wore
to that day's hearings. Equally useless
are the opinions and theories provided by
various legal experts.
The
network executives are obviously confident
that such nattering is wildly useful. It's
not. The developments of the trial are what
matters.
All
the noise surrounding the lead-up to a judgment
is nothing more than pompousness and gas
coming from people who should have better
things to do. The money and self-aggrandizement
that comes from hearing yourself talk on
prime-time must be intense.
Some
of the participants in the media circus
must have once dreamed of being lawyers
or newscasters who did great things and
bettered society. Good fortune for them
that the pay is good. When they look back
on the blazing panorama of regret and mediocrity
that was their professional lives, they'll
be doing so from a large house high up in
Beverly Hills.
Real
news happens every day. But the definition
of news shouldn't be so wide as to include
something like the Jackson trial. The trial
is entertainment. Like all things entertaining,
it titillates and amuses. But learning about
it adds little to the spectator's life.
The
talk and coverage of the Jackson trial is
little more than media masturbation. It
feels good, but in the end it gets you nowhere.
It's time for the news to focus on things
that are at least mildly informative, and
stop trying to grab a piece of the tabloids'
audience.
|
