If you missed The Daily Show's response to the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death, do yourself a favor and check it out. While the entire segment is hilarious, hitting on various lowlights and shameless techniques, Jon Stewart aptly sums up this bottom-feeding frenzy in one sentence:
STEWART: The media unleashed a full-scale coverage orgy, with CNN at one point going 90 minutes without a commercial, making the death of Anna Nicole Smith a more significant news event than a State of the Union address and slightly less than 9/11.
And these are the same people who cry foul when accused of shoddy journalism (just think of their wounded response to Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last year - and he's a satirist). I had CNN on today for a couple of hours in the background and you'd think that the biggest threat facing mankind are avalanches.
After the John Mark Karr circus, every major news outlet in this country should've issued an apology and a pledge to never repeat the same mistake (I'm referring to the type of nonsensical saturation of coverage; never mind that Karr wasn't even the right guy). Though, to no one's surprise, none did.
Their coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death is merely a reminder of the depths to which they're willing to sink without regard to news that actually affects us.
The Daily Show Rips MSM for Anna Nicole Coverage
TDS (via Crooks and Liars)
The Daily Show's Anna Nicole Smith Smackdown
Posted by: MediaBloodhound | February 19, 2007 at 10:46 PM