I got a lot of grief for suggesting that Michael Jackson’s death was of less importance to some of us than, say, John Lennon’s or Joe Strummer’s — so I won’t make the mistake of denying the man his cultural significance and the import of this moment blah blah. But even the most hardcore Jackson fan might be starting to wonder about the wall-to-wall coverage it’s receiving on cable news.
As readers of this space know, I’m sort of a cable news junkie. There is no other word for it since I know it’s bad for me and is doubtless shortening my life span. But as I pottered about my bedroom engaged in homely tasks I tuned into the Clueless News Network at 5 pm, thinking surely Wolf Blitzer et al would have some pulpy political juice: horrendous job numbers today, a new martial salvo from Jenny Sanford of her wayward husband, to say nothing of California issuing IOUs.
The breaking news was the just released footage of MJ and dancers at a dress rehearsal at the Staple Center. I switched to MSNBC — wonk central, right? Chris Matthews sleeps on sheets with the US Constitution reprinted on them. But no! there was NBC’s chief political analyst Chuck Todd interviewing self-appointed MJ expert Toure about… the release of that video!
“There was a moment when all three cable news networks were showing that video at the same time,” Todd asked while a little part of him went to hell. “What was the significance of that moment for you?”
“I didn’t actually see it,” said Toure. “I was driving home, having just been interviewed by MSNBC about Jackson…”
After a moment of swearing I turned on the radio and listened to NPR news which featured extensive coverage of the Marine push into Taliban country taking place in Afghanistan today — US casualties, people. It reminded me of why I support my local public news station (and so should you) and that it might be time to revisit the idea of getting our local cable provider to carry BBC news or, heaven forfend, Al Jazeera English. Those poor chumps seem to have missed the Jackson story entirely!