In the wake of recent scandals such as Britney’s custody battle, and the enduring one-man media legacy that is O. J. Simpson, one must ask themselves a seemingly simple question, “How much is too much?” Does the media focus too much attention on these impractical people and events, drawing them out to no end, or are they merely doing their jobs as journalists? While sure, these celebrity headlines may be considered newsworthy, if not only for the enormous curiosity they stir, but does this truly warrant the excessive amount of coverage they indeed receive?
In my not so humble opinion, I consider it flat-out shameful the amount of attention that these events receive in the media. In all honesty, what of real value can we actually extract from a three hundred word article on Britney’s purported drug abuse, or a three minute sound byte recounting O.J.’s most recent mishap with the law? I’m willing to go out on a limb and say not a whole lot.
Whether or not this is entirely the media’s fault is open to question, however. It’s a bit of the chicken and the egg scenario when one considers whether the media merely reacts to the public’s obsession with prominence and fame, or if in fact the media was actually responsible for fostering this obsession to begin with.
A Pew research project found that fully 87 percent of the public believed that celebrity scandals are the focus of too much coverage by the media, though only a slim majority, 54 percent, actually attribute the blame to news organizations. Regardless of the actual reality of the situation, the outcome is still unfortunately the same—an endless torrent of mindless celebrity-crazed babble.
Nevertheless, when everything is boiled down, sadly, one must come to the realization that, media driven or not, there is a huge market, and an even larger demand for the trivial details regarding the private lives of the prominent figures of our society. Since when did we forget our mothers’ advice to be polite and mind our own business?
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2 comments:
I do agree that the media spends way to much time reporting on worthless stories that have to deal with these out of control celebritites. You talk about why the media talks so much about celebrities. Whether it is the public's obsession of these celebrities lives or is it the medisa fault for starting their obession. I think its a little of both. There are tons of people out there that enjoy hearing about Britney's custody battle or lindseys rehab status so the media will report it. But i also think the continuous reporting of these celebrities leads to people getting sucked into these pointless stories.
Your concluding paragraph is the most compelling part of your argument. Whether the media report it or not, people still demand celebrity details.
I'm glad you included the Pew project results— it really supports the points you're making. And "an endless torrent of mindless celebrity-crazed babble"— that line is priceless.
You're a strong writer. I really enjoyed reading this piece and hope to read more from you in the future.
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