It's the news as business that I am railing against. Reporting the news used to have a sense of being a sacred mission about it, where as more and more, I feel like I'm only hearing what sells if I listen to mainstream network or cable (yes, CNN is guilty, too). And how many times have you watch a TV show only to find a tie-in story on the 11 pm broadcast. It's all about soundbytes, and sex, and fear.
Yes, the consumer is also at fault, but the media, as a whole, has lost it's sense of professional integrity by turning victims into celebrities. JonBenet Ramsey, Jennifer Levin, Chandra Levy, Lacy Peterson, etc, have been exploited in death in a profound way every time their pictures grace the cover of yet another magazine or paper for the purpose of increasing sales. It is shameful.
And just tonight, I heard that Lacy Peterson's mom is writing a book about Lacy. I tend to be sympathetic foward mothers who have lost children, but really, isn't this just feeding the frenzy? I'm sure that she was a wonderful person and that her mother loved her very much, but I have to ask....What did Lacy ever do, other than be murdered, that would make a book about her life marketable? The only reason a book deal exists is because she was turned into a celebrity, posthumously. by the media.
Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10
