The death of Heath Ledger though tragic, recently brought something to light: what used to pass for media reporting has simply become a joke.
Was it just me or were all the talking heads on all the network news simply spewing wikipedia'd facts about a celebrity with which they themselves knew virtually nothing about. The seamless spew of misinformation revealed the weakness in what we now call American journalism. People used to watch the news to learn something - not to be told information that we can process by simply watching what the news anchors are watching. Even the prepared packages were laughable, filled with misinformation about Ledger's whereabouts, what his last moments were and so on. Endless b-roll of Ledger at red carpet events looped with retired police officers, coroners, and anyone else with a voice had a mike thrown in their face and asked about how they felt that Mary-Kate Olsen was the first to call 911 - and whoops, actually it was the masseuse, oh, and breaking news, there was a $20 bill. This isn't reporting, this is just telestrating what's on screen.
Networks today are so caught up in getting the information out that they don't even bother to check whether or not they are accurate. That's not reporting, and that's not journalism, its embarassing. And what's sad is with their power, they aren't even the first ones to break the story - TMZ.com, a trash celebrity reporting site was.
A couple quick hits:
...With the Super Bowl coming up there will be endless articles written about various aspects of the game from Tom Brady's wardrobe to Strahan's divorce to Coughlin's unfortunate decision to not where any protection on his face in Green Bay...the magnitude of the game seems to rise every year, and several estimates have the game being potentially viewed by over 95 million people. To me however, the one aspect of the game that every year goes under-reported is the role that gambling plays in the NFL's skyrocketing popularity.
...The coaching carousel was relatively quiet this year. Was it that parity has extended itself again, and more organizations have realized that they were only a few pieces away from success? Or was it that so many bad deals were made over the past ten years with the same recycled trash that owners have reached their tipping point and are going with cheaper, younger, guys, and in a sense, more stability?
...Tiger Woods dominates again. To the point that he and Nicklaus are in no way to be mentioned in the same category. Sure, Nicklaus had all the 2nd place victories, but he never made the field choke the way that Tiger does. The psychological effects of Woods alone wins him tournaments, and in a sport where your opponent can do nothing to hinder your way to victory, Tiger has found a way to intimidate. And with no competition other than himself every week, it is a wonder how he is able to stay so focused.
...John McCain wins Florida, and it looks like Rudy is about to drop out. I think Rudy knew the inevitable and was on a vacation anyway, two birds with one stone...Fred Thompson down, Rudy down, its nice to see how far celebrity can actually carry one in a Presidential race.
Keywords: Heath Ledger, Media, President, Super Bowl, Tiger
