Sensationalists
I didn't feel like linking anything today
This morning I noticed that the court case which is trying to figure out where Anna Nicole Smith's body should be buried dominated the morning news/talk show scene this morning. While this is a complex story, I did not feel that the story needed the amount of attention it was garnering. I can honestly say that I do not care one way or another about this. However, the Today show devoted no less than a half hour to this story.
I realize that hearing bad news coming from Iraq or that the White House is about to start a war with Iran is a bummer for the people, that does not mean that entertainment news has to fill up the news ticker. I know more about Anna Nicole Smith's estate and Britney Spears' trips to rehab than I do about the country's involvement in the Middle East.
The "news" is like any other program on television in that they are competing for ratings. The integrity of news sources will continue to be compromised while this situation exists.
Normally I'm a defender & fan of CNN, but I was disgusted yesterday evening to find this Anna Nicole Smith story to be CNN's 5:00/6:00pm lead as well as the other usual suspects - Fox, MSNBC, etc. Hell, you can't even go to BBC's website without seeing bald Britney! Check it out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/. (At least it's not the main story.) These so-called news networks are starting to look eerily similar to Inside Edition or Entertainment Tonight.
I think the news networks, if they are really just going to cover popular stories in the vacuum of real news, should just cede their time to their entertainment divisions. I'd rather have Wolf Blitzer come on and say "The Situation today? Same old, same old. Rather than bore you with what you already know, we're going to let Leeza Gibbons tell you about the new revelations in the Anna Nicole Smith case. See you tomorrow" Then he pours himself a glass of scotch, sits in a nice chair, picks up some reading material and CUT!
Anna Nicole died? I've heard nothing about this.
Did you catch the opening skit on the most recent SNL? Quite good.
I don't think you can blame the news networks. We have to blame ourselves. Right now, the top story on CNN.com is the Feds Monitoring Shaky Financial Markets. But if you click on the "most popular" stories, at the top of the list are "Hilton drives w/suspended license" and "Court hears Smith burial appeal." Our choices speak for themselves.
I agree with Harper here. This is a matter of categorization. I have no problem with the idea that people gravitate towards entertainment-based news items, just don't pass it off as headline news. If an entertainment story is big enough (Anna Nicole Smith -esque) then have it dominate the entertainment portion of the program as opposed to the entire thing.
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