EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Feb. 23, 2007.
It was inevitable, I suppose. But knowing that still didn't keep it from irritating me. In the wake of the 24/7 electronic media coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death and subsequent legal fight over her remains and custody of her child, the know-it-all pundits are telling us that the public's insatiable appetite for celebrity news is the next sign the nation is going to hell in a hand basket, and fast. Really? This time, the media coverage is really that much more deplorable than when the media obsessed over the death of Smith's son, or the marriage of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, or the Robert Blake trial, or the O.J. Simpson trial, or any of the dozens of celebrity sex tapes that are available for personal enjoyment. Despite the American fascination with its celebrities going back decades and decades, this latest celebrity trial is the sign that the United States is the modern day equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah? P-l-e-e-e-a-s-e ... Is the topic sensational? You bet. Will the time Americans spend watching the drama unfold on television help to solve world hunger or cure cancer? Probably not. Does the fact that you may be glued to CNN, or Fox or MSNBC or any of the other dozens of cable channels following the story make you a bad person? Of course not. Although some will tell you that it indeed does make you a bad person because that in turn makes for good television as well. Allowing someone to verbally abuse us because we're interested in the goings-on in Smith's ordeal absolves us of a little of the guilt. But don't fall into the trap. Americans have long been engrossed with their celebrities and you can bet had any of the 24/7 news channels existed earlier in history there would have been wall-to-wall coverage of Elvis' death and Marilyn's death, the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, Amelia Earhart's doomed flight and any number of other sensational stories. Our celebrity worship isn't any greater now than it ever was; we just now are surrounded by more media and so we are inundated with celebrity coverage. Rather than beat ourselves up over the watching of the Smith trial, let's see it for what it really is. First, with the onset of the 24/7 news cycle, cable news agencies need to fill hours and hours of programming every day that will draw ratings. They can only file so many stories about Iraq before people tune out and there just isn't a continuous stream of breaking news stories important enough to make national news. So TV executives are left with many hours of programming to fill with few options. What do you think they're going to do when a story like Smith's breaks? Look, you can only program so many hours of straight news and keep people interested. There are a couple of channels - some cable and some public access - that do that and take a look at what their typical ratings are. People aren't exactly flocking to watch C-SPAN. Additionally, we love storytelling. Why do you think we cherish our many media options so much? And the many, many subplots of Smith's death, the death of her son, the pending battle of custody over her young daughter, the estranged mother, and the countless potential heirs to Smith's fortune are irresistible stories. Someone couldn't have written a better Hollywood script than this. In fact, had someone written this script in Hollywood it probably would have been written off as being too over the top for moviegoers to believe. Let the pundits talk, but don't believe 'em when they start calling us nincompoops for being enamored with the Smith trial. Is it shocking that people are watching by the millions? No. Does it actually say something about our culture? Not anymore than the silly daytime soap operas with similar plot lines that have been around for decades. No, I'm afraid the Smith trial has more to say about the state of television programming that exists in this 24/7 world than it does about our desire to see the dirty underbelly of the celebrity world. We've always wanted to do that; we just now have the means to easily do so. - Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com.
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