February 8, 2008--Fanaticism XCXI: Murder By Media
The impending murder of Britney Spears has now moved to primetime on the mainstream media.
They are no longer merely covering-the-coverage. Which is the traditional beard for the New York Times, CNN, and such. A posture that allows them to pretend to stand aloof from the tabloids and E News and Entertainment Tonight. By doing this they manage to slip in a dose of gossip while pretending to contemplate the larger, loftier, social meanings of her rise and fall.
But now, as Britney’s death is imminent, some of them have stepped fully out of the closet.
Example. Last night, after returning from celebrating the Chinese New Year by, what else, banqueting, I turned on CNN to get the latest news about Mitt Romney’s dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination—for the sake of the party and the country (sure)—the status of the economic stimulus package—the Democrats in the Senate once again caving—and maybe even half a word about the war in Iraq—remember that one?
Instead, on Anderson Cooper 360, it was all Britney-all-the-time. Not only did they show endless loops of video from the TMZ gossip channel (the usual form of covering what other, trashier outlets are up to), but also this time they had a panel of “experts” commenting on her mental and legal status.
There was a representative of an advocacy group that supports parents’ rights to intervene in the lives of their “disturbed” children when they are legal adults. And there was CNN’s and the New Yorker’s chief legal correspondent, Jeffery Toobin opining as if the Supreme Court had just overturned Roe v. Wade, about the intricacies of this kind of situation. Very complicated he said. In addition to taking us through the legal thicket, he did not fail to mention, with a glowing smile, that the judge adjudicating the Spears’ case was none other than a former O. J. Simpson prosecutor--just to make sure folks who follow these kinds of things know all the delicious combinations and permutations.
Rising to my own loftier, reflective posture I ask—what the hell is going on here??
What is this endless fascination, no obsession, with what the tabloids refer to as the Pop Tart? (Today’s NY Post headline—“Britney Out of Nut House.”) Most of the people who are following her every hospitalization, her every failure to show up for a court appearance, her every drunken escapade, her newly acquired British accent—you see I’m up on the details—most have never see her perform, watched one of her videos, or even heard one of her songs. She’s arguably the most famous unknown person ever. And yet there she is all over the so-called news.
Of course we know where this is headed. With the paparazzi and press swarming around her day and night like a wolf pack—she can’t even go to a 7-11 without at least 20 of these predators sticking cameras in her face--she’s likely to be dead before spring. And that will produce endless gnashing of teeth and crocodile tears by the very same people who are now in on the kill.
And let’s be clear about this—this is a murder in progress. In plain sight. 24-7.
They are no longer merely covering-the-coverage. Which is the traditional beard for the New York Times, CNN, and such. A posture that allows them to pretend to stand aloof from the tabloids and E News and Entertainment Tonight. By doing this they manage to slip in a dose of gossip while pretending to contemplate the larger, loftier, social meanings of her rise and fall.
But now, as Britney’s death is imminent, some of them have stepped fully out of the closet.
Example. Last night, after returning from celebrating the Chinese New Year by, what else, banqueting, I turned on CNN to get the latest news about Mitt Romney’s dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination—for the sake of the party and the country (sure)—the status of the economic stimulus package—the Democrats in the Senate once again caving—and maybe even half a word about the war in Iraq—remember that one?
Instead, on Anderson Cooper 360, it was all Britney-all-the-time. Not only did they show endless loops of video from the TMZ gossip channel (the usual form of covering what other, trashier outlets are up to), but also this time they had a panel of “experts” commenting on her mental and legal status.
There was a representative of an advocacy group that supports parents’ rights to intervene in the lives of their “disturbed” children when they are legal adults. And there was CNN’s and the New Yorker’s chief legal correspondent, Jeffery Toobin opining as if the Supreme Court had just overturned Roe v. Wade, about the intricacies of this kind of situation. Very complicated he said. In addition to taking us through the legal thicket, he did not fail to mention, with a glowing smile, that the judge adjudicating the Spears’ case was none other than a former O. J. Simpson prosecutor--just to make sure folks who follow these kinds of things know all the delicious combinations and permutations.
Rising to my own loftier, reflective posture I ask—what the hell is going on here??
What is this endless fascination, no obsession, with what the tabloids refer to as the Pop Tart? (Today’s NY Post headline—“Britney Out of Nut House.”) Most of the people who are following her every hospitalization, her every failure to show up for a court appearance, her every drunken escapade, her newly acquired British accent—you see I’m up on the details—most have never see her perform, watched one of her videos, or even heard one of her songs. She’s arguably the most famous unknown person ever. And yet there she is all over the so-called news.
Of course we know where this is headed. With the paparazzi and press swarming around her day and night like a wolf pack—she can’t even go to a 7-11 without at least 20 of these predators sticking cameras in her face--she’s likely to be dead before spring. And that will produce endless gnashing of teeth and crocodile tears by the very same people who are now in on the kill.
And let’s be clear about this—this is a murder in progress. In plain sight. 24-7.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:48 AM
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