Enough With the Jacko Media Coverage! Here's Why

For its new Question of the Day feature over at Editor & Publisher's main blog, we asked: Is the press overplaying the death of Michael Jackson? The question produced a good number of responses, even as the coverage -- right or wrong -- continued with little let up. Nearly all hit the over-coverage hard.

Commenters mainly stuck to the extent of coverage, not the blatant misinformation and hyperbole, such as comparing Jackson to Jackie Robinson (MTV: partly segregated for one year, Baseball: Fully segregated for 70 years) or suggesting that he was the first black pop star to gain wide white audience (decades after the super-popular Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and dozens of other examples). Or, more importantly, glossing over the, shall we say, unsavory, relationships with young boys.

My view: younger fans can rightly accuse many oldsters for not quite "getting" MJ's influence. On the other hand, many younger fans are very weak in the historical perspective department. I say this as a former editor at Crawdaddy which covered Michael throughout the 1970s.

Anyway: To read all of the comments, go to the Pub here. Below I present some of the views already there.
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Commenters at E&P:

--Yes, they're overplaying his death: but with the 24/7 news cycle, the TV press, with the print journos in tow, overplay almost any story, especially those that have a high "fluff" factor. To convey real news requires time, contextualization, and a seriousness that runs counter to the info-tainment paradigm. So, what better than a celebrity death? It's easy, it's cathartic, and has little real meaning in the greater scheme of things.

--MSNBC: Silent on Iran this past weekend, strike one. Olbermann in shirtsleeves getting breathless over Jackson, strike two.

--Yes! There are a lot of important things going on in the world and the media isn't reporting on them. It's hard to find news on anything else.

--Considering he is the best known artist in the world, I would say no. This deserves more attention than Jon and Kate's divorce.

--We didn't even run it in our newspaper. We are delivered by mail the next day, so we could have gotten it in. But Jackson doesn't rate any story in a small, western Nebraska town. Anyone who cared watched all those network specials anyway. We focus on hyper-local, not hyper-ridiculous.

--Sad! Let's take our hats off for five minutes....say a couple of nice things and move on....all in all, not that important!

--Whoa, wait. Michael Jackson died? They haven't announced it even once on HGTV.

--Michael Jackson died? 5 million mothers of pre-teen boys let out a collective sigh of relief.

--Downright disgraceful. Jackson's death unlikely will impact few outside of his family and business associates short of another "celebrity" death. The swoon by the mainstream media is not only sickening, it is another sign of the death of a free press and it's impending transition into all tabloid all the time. It is a crying shame the impacting news has to take a backseat or disappear altogether.

--So I ask this question for those making news judgments: Most significant death of the week -- Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson or Neda Agha Soltan? (I can tell you which one will get the most eyeballs and therefore revenue. Will history agree?)

--I would like to say, that first, one death is not anymore significant or better than anyone else's. Let's please be rational here while we talk. Second, whether you like it or not, the man was a global icon, despite his faults. Not only that, but his death came as a massive shock, and there maybe reports that he wasn't treated properly like he should have been.

--Michael Jackson was as much a creature of the media as a performer, and the coverage reminds me of Dr. Frankenstein mourning his creation.

--Leave it to these same editors, who convicted the man in the court of public opinion, to milk the cash cow one last time as they pay overdue respect to a progenitor.

--Overplayed compared to what? Iran? Health care reform? Cap and trade? Darfur? The collapse of the banks? Yes. Laci Peterson? The missing girl in Aruba? No. At least Michael Jackson was someone people recognized.

--It is IMPOSSIBLE to overplay this story. Michael Jackson was THE most famous person on Earth! In every part of the globe, people knew and loved him. He was the most talented performer the world has ever seen, and probably ever will see. The other news stories -- health care reform, Iran, the economy, Gov. Sanford, etc. -- aren't going anywhere and will still be news in a few days.

--How many drug overdoses in LA yesterday? How many had live in personal doctors? Why is opium still growing in Afghanistan?

--All the TV coverage was fine for a while, now it is getting on my last nerve. I want to know what is going on in Iran, will we get a public option , can we do any thing to rid the world of the crazy North Korea idiot before he blows up the world. Its Jackson all the time all day.

--Have refrained from posting until now however, with the continued front line coverage of this I have to wonder. Why didn't the headlines read as they should, "Accused Pedophile taken to hospital in cardiac arrest"? "Michael Jackson, who has been accused multiple times of inappropriate contact with young boys, was found dead at his rented home today." Nothing more needed to be said; he lost all right to any hero worship after the first incident.

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Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." He was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy for nearly all of the 1970s.

Comments

[mphsnme]

Why don't we just make his fans happy, make his birthday a national
holiday, and then can we please all get on with our lives. Jeesh.
This guy was talented but he was also incredibly messed up. People,
stop seeing only what you want to see.

[josephXY]

The British Guardian had an article some time ago about how newspapers changed over the
years. The big difference to papers in 1984: practically no comments, only news. They all just
didn't have have the freaked - out commentators, angry finger- jabbing, awful pundits, ...
they were much calmer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/18/newspaper-industry

[Imzadi]

Thank you! I found this over-reporting of MJ's demise deplorable and extremely annoying. Thanks for posting comments from like-minded folks.

[SameSo]

The man's name was Michael Jackson, not the prejorative 'jacko'. So I didnt read this article.

[Imzadi]

Brangelina disagree...

[3fingerbrown]

The angle that disturbs me most is the quickly fabricated notion that Jackson was some kind of a black showbiz pioneer. By the time he came of age, black entertainers had already achieved parity with their white counterparts. The author mentions Same Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Hendrix, et al., but even they would have to acknowledge that their path was made smoother by Jim Crow-era entertainers who really kicked down the doors: Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nat Cole, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, and their contemporaries. I imagined the great Lena Horne, now 92 years old, at home watching this on TV and hearing Jackson being lauded as some kind of civil rights pioneer. This most elegant, intelligent, and proud women who was barred by law from eating or sleeping in the hotels at which she appeared as the star attraction, and who prevailed after years of struggle and humiliation at the hands of vulgarians and rednecks--what did she make of all this?

[Nommo]

3finger, anytime you hear that comment, it is really about certain people patting themselves on the back for catching on, at long last.

[amfilmlvr]

But there is a difference between parity and pop culture domination which makes the career of Michael Jackson notable in African American history. Sure "pioneer" may be a stretch but for at least 30 of his 50 years, he trumped all other singers in the collective American cultural imagination.

Also, more that Billie and Ella, and the other wonderful standards singers of the past, Michael wrote his own message. Watching snippets of the VH1 video retrospective this weekend I had forgotten how much he wrote about poverty, race, the environment, human rights. He used his personal capital to bring to the stage important issues. So he didn't just capitalize on the parity for his own gain, he did try to do something with his fame, successful or not. I'll admit Earth Song doesn't want to make you get on the dance floor.

Lets not forget that many of our beloved artists , some of which 3finger named above, have demons like drug abuse, domestic violence, and womanizing. Michael Jackson had his demons too, but he was acquitted of molestation charges.

Like it or not, Michael Jackson deserves national mourning and remembrance. If for no other reason than to reflect on how our pop culture and values have evolved (or devolved depending on your view) since his King of Pop reign.

[PHinGA]

My sentiments exactly. Thanks for your post.

[Squaker]

Jackson was the first african american child star
He is the first black person who's life is documented in the press form cradle to grave
I'd call that being a "showbiz pioneer"

[Acidic]

I bet the news anchor are somewhat relieved because then they bring in the trainees to get their feet wet on TV.

[Acidic]

Don't forget we have a toxicology report due in 6 to 8 weeks! Remember Anna Nicole? This is going to go on for weeks of speculation until that report comes out.

[brijit]

No surprise here. This is the way the media has worked for quite some time now. It latches on to an issue which may or may not have some intrinsic interest and report on it. And report on it. And eventually do it to death until no one wants to ever hear another word about it. And then do it some more. And some more, etc. Endless repetition is necessary as there can never be enough new material to feed this phenomenon.

[Okieborn]

Thank You Gregg Mitchell !!
This Has Gotten completely crazy !!!

[Emmy2]

Excessive coverage of [whatever] is why I watch TV only in record-playback mode. I can skip over the endless-re­petition-d­u-jour. I wasn't a fan of Jackson, so I enjoyed fast forwarding to some of the dance sequences and watching them. He was *really* good at that, wasn't he? As for being the greatest influence on pop music ever (I swear I heard that more than once!) I just gotta say huh?? What in the world will they say when Stevie Wonder dies?

[booker52]

I was not a fan of his and I for one am tired of the endless coverage on this topic. Does the media have a short memory?? You bet, just a few short years ago they were covering his trial for molesting a child. Hello?? So now that he has passed on he becomes a saint???

[Anna Kaminsky]

This site is covered with articles about Michael Jackson. If you did not find Thursday morning, you would be shocked to see in the news that Farrah Fawcett died after a long struggle with cancer. I am sorry he died and sorry for her painful ending but nothing is ever going to change. At least the Republicans (who get more coverage and few challenges from the media, which includes MSNBC especially Fox News' Joe Scarborough), have had less airtime and less time for the cable news shows to market the lies. I think the celebrity coverage is the only material safe in the hands of cable news. Mika from MSNBC even got it wrong on the Sanford affair by claiming Republicans are called out on affairs to a much greater degree than Democrats.

[Estreet1964]

I thought that this comment summed up the situation quite nicely.

"So I ask this question for those making news judgments: Most significant death of the week -- Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson or Neda Agha Soltan? (I can tell you which one will get the most eyeballs and therefore revenue. Will history agree?)

Celebrity culture will be the death of us all. Television is the true opiate of the masses. With the public adequately distracted the corporate powers rule.

[bowthai]

There have been a few moments of truly obscene television 'news' coverage of celebrity death that has really turned me off to cable news. I remember when JFK, Jr's plane crashed and CNN ran entire blocks of footage of a helicopter hovering over the water. Another moment was when Anna Nicole Smith died and it consumed at least an entire day. This time I tried to give the BBC a shot but I only managed a solid afternoon because they started running the same interview with some internet fan club member over and over. In all these cases, I thought, surely they'll sneak in some major headlines and at least the hourly run-down of the day's news. Not so. I know there are people who are saying that those who aren't interested shouldn't watch or that we should just seek out other news sources. But there is a limited number of news organizations, mainstream and otherwise, with the access to and knowledge of events in the rest of the world. Really, how many reporters does it take to tell us about MJ?

[rob2007]

Overshadowed this week was the very pertinent announcement from The White House, in the form of vp Biden and adviser Valerie Jarrett, this week naming Lynn Rosenthal as the first White House Adviser on Violence Against Women. The press only highlights Biden when he goofs. They ignore that he authored the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. Biden speaks passionately on this subject. His father taught him that "the single most serious sin a man can commit is to abuse power, and the ultimate abuse of power is violence against women."

The statistics of this "awful scourge" are staggering: 48 million incidence of domestic violence are reported each year, leaving the mind reeling on the true total including those not reported. Biden continues, "The worst imprisonment in the world is being a prisoner in your own home. It has incredible negative ramifications FOR GENERATIONS TO FOLLOW." Prison inmates, he continued, share a commonality in that many have severely restricted reading ability if they can read at all, and they witnessed their mother being abused or they were abused themselves.

Deepak Choprah stated Michael Jackson's addiction to plastic surgery is indicative of somebody who was abused in childhood.

Domestic violence strikes everybody in the family, then reaches it's tentacles out into the greater society at large. This untimely death could serve a greater purpose in opening a dialog on what President Clinton fifteen years ago called "the scourge of our society, the national epidemic of domestic violence."