Garden State Patriot

Last night as the news broke about Michael Jackson, you knew the media would be in full frenzy mode. Just like OJ before him, Lady Di, or even Anna Nicole Smith, the media salivates over these kinds of tragedies. Suddenly, we are subject to 24/7 of titillating coverage that serves as little else than entertainment.

Look, I liked Michael Jackson’s music as much as anyone. His gifts as an entertainer were bar none. His death certainly merits coverage but it does not merit all of our news organizations, including Fox, dedicating an entire night to his tragic death, morbidly following the helicopter as his body is transported to the coroner (played over repeatedly I might add) while completely ignoring other events going on in the world.

Did the Iranian protests and killings end yesterday?

Was the critical vote on the C(r)ap & Trade bill today in Congress suddenly of no meaning to us?

At what point does a news organization come down on the side of ethics and not ratings?

Michael Jackson’s death is significant – but only from a pop culture perspective. Yes, pop culture has its time and place and meaning in our society. But the death of one celebrity should not mean that serious news organizations should drop all other news coverage and act like TMZ.com.

What’s worse, though, is I bet most people know far, far more about Michael Jackson than a bill about to be voted on in Congress that will raise our taxes and seriously threaten our economic prosperity.

Scary.