Editorial: Media needs to rethink priorities in Jackson case
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 13, 2005 9:00 p.m.
The media has converged on the Michael Jackson trial as if it
were the story of the decade.
But viewers and readers should realize all this attention comes
at the expense of more important stories ““ from the
rebuilding of Afghanistan to congressional bills.
Images of news crews crammed around Jackson’s Neverland
Ranch and the courthouse air nightly on all major networks.
Respected papers like the Los Angeles Times devote numerous
reporters and countless columns of text to the trial. The
Times’ coverage, as bizarre as the singer, even includes a
special photo slideshow and video dedicated to Jackson’s late
arrival to court in, apparently, pajama pants.
Court TV Chairman and CEO Henry Schleiff told the Newark
Star-Ledger that media coverage of celebrity trials benefits
democracy because “it lets (viewers) see that the rich and
powerful are not free from the justice system.”
This may be true, but there’s a difference between
reporting and entertaining ““ a line most media outlets
crossed long ago. Democracy is not served when hundreds of
reporters are assigned to Jackson’s trial and only three,
according to the American Journalism Review, are in Afghanistan.
The priorities of media consumers and producers need
realignment.
