Why, yes he is. Michael Jackson that is. No I’ve never been a fan of his, in fact I much rather “Weird Al” remakes of his songs than the actual thing. Lets just say he was never my style. BUT, this is not about whether he was the King of Pop or not, it is about how farked up the media is.
I followed things pretty closely today as things transpired.
First reports came in that Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital for cardiac arrest. Hey he is an icon, surely this is news. I have no qualms about that.
Secondary reports, suddenly speculation on if he died or not. The whole thing that the paramedics said about “Privacy issues” made everyone go balistic, was he okay, what happened? Enquiring minds need to know.
The LATimes reported that he was dead and I believe they gave a time of death even though no official word was given. The other news agencies reported that the LA Times said that he died. The vicious circle continued.
Of course that’s when the internet blew up.
Twittering, messageboards, RIP Michaels all over the place. At one point many of the news or tweet sections of the internet were overloaded. In fact I had to go to a UK website to find out news about stuff on this continent. This amused me greatly, but they didn’t know anymore than the unverified reports that everyone was reporting about.
When is too much, too much? Certainly Michael Jackson is a household name in almost any household in the world, so he is kind of public property. On the other hand, no matter what he has done in his life he is still a human being who on the day his number came up the only things folks could do was jump to conclusions and revisit any of his past indiscretions and share it with everyone.
About 5 hours after he died, a family member finally made a statement that he really did die. I watched it of course and it made me sad seeing his brother announce it. Death hits me harder than it ever had these days with my own personal grief of the loss of my Mom. I saw the look in his eyes, that sadness of where a life has ended and that someone was missing where there once was someone.
But why couldn’t the media just leave it alone? He had a cardiac arrest, he was rushed to the hospital. Until someone announces officially his status, it is not my right to know about it. Report that he was in the hospital before writing him off. Before playing is life story. I mean even one of the major news agencies made some major typos with their reports, “He was the son of so and so.” All past tense.
I don’t think it’s right that we knew the news before his family was prepared to tell us of it. He could of died 3 days ago and have the funeral so the family has a chance to grieve and gather themselves for the onslaught. It’s sad really.
Then – Earlier in the day Farrah Fawcett passed away and the cancer she had fought all these years got her. It was news for about 5 hours before bigger news came along and outshined her. How disrespectful is that? They were both amazing people, is it because Michael Jackson sold more records?
I dunno what this world is coming to with the corruption of the media as it has become.
Is our need to know what is going on with people we’ve never met before that important that we forget that they are human?
Whatever it is, may Farrah and Michael have some peace, for entirely different reasons.
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