William Powers, writing on the Web site of the National Journal, takes the media to task for our "slavish" attention to the antics of the super-rich.
"Where very rich people go, journalists follow -- dutifully, slavishly. Elite news outlets enthuse about the business deals of the super-rich, lately chanting the phrase 'private equity' like a magic spell. Reporters fawn not just over the money the uber-rich are making but also over how they spend it: the houses they buy, the cars they drive, the private jets they fly in and whatever they happen to be doing at the moment."
He's got a point. Are we feeding the genuine desires of our readers and viewers? If so, they are a pretty sad and voyeuristic lot. Or are we satisfying some motive of our own, out of envy for these people or our desire to tear down those who make more money than we do?
Either way, it's pretty disgusting. I know some people who would be regarded as very rich by conventional standards. Some are bright, innovative, interesting people. Others are drop cases and empty suits, who have their stunning wealth only because Daddy took rich and then managed to hide the loot from the taxman until he keeled over and left it to his undeserving offspring.
Meanwhile, back to Anna Nicole Smith and Bald Britney...
The media's fixation on "rich Hollywood snobbery" says more about our journalism schools than it does anything else. Britney, Anna Nicole, global warming, ad nauseam - where does it all end?
To borrow a few paraphrased quotes from H L Mencken - "A newspaper (read, "media") is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.... The aim of ... politics (and media) is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
I'm not sure how valid my opinion is (full disclosure: I make money off the antics of celebrities), but I feel disappointed when I see something that is clearly a gossip story on the front page of a newspaper or as a top television news story.
I was pretty disgusted when, while watching ABC 30 last week, I saw a teaser for the 11 o'clock news promising more information about cast changes on "Grey's Anatomy." This was an allusion to behind-the-scenes, gossipy problems with the cast that, I think, have no business being on a "real" news program.
I think there is definitely a place for celebrity fixations, and I remember when that place was relegated to cheesy supermarket tabloids, "Entertainment Tonight", and pink-hued gossip blogs, not so-called "legitimate" news sources. I wouldn't mind seeing that happen again.
Especially all of these pesky Global Warming stories: Global Warming passes out at club Hyde, Global Warming is dating Jude Law, Global Warming is in rehab. Where will it end?
C'mon, fess up. You can't resist a good paparazzi shot of Global Warming in a compromising position!
Touché!