Friday, June 26, 2009

Whose Michael is it anyway?


A week ago I was torn between thinking that the media circus surrounding Michael Jackson's death was too much, and feeling like it was warranted by goosebumps I feel whenever I hear "Man in the Mirror." Many others were feeling the latter, as his music was, well "the soundtrack of our lives." (Sorry, worst turn of phrase ever.) To be fair, a lot of the coverage is coming from and being driven by the blogosphere, facebook, twitter, youtube and random people moonwalking down the street, so perhaps the mainstream media is really taking its cue from the people. For a man who received unprecedented media attention for most of life-- a lot of it negative in the past two decades -- it stands to reason that it would only reach a climax with his death.

But now, here we are a week later and all the major cable networks are following Michael Jackson's hearse and motorcade while all sorts of "industry experts" talk off camera about his impact, legacy, popularity. And all the while, I am pretty sure I heard that seven Americans died in Afghanistan yesterday. Isn't the primary role of CNN, FOX and MSNBC to cover things such as Americans being killed in foreign wars?

I'm not suggesting that they don't air the actual memorial service, but the parking and driving adventures of the motorcade a good two hours before the service starts? And not to single-out any one "journalist", but I thought Anderson Cooper interviewed heads of state and covered ravaged New Orleans? It is very unclear to me why he was voice-overing the memorial pre-show.

I thought there was a division of labor where entertainment "journalists" covered entertainment and the "real journalists" covered the rest. But really, that was so 80's... when Michael Jackson was really someone to revere.