Saturation

I'll be the first to admit that I am a Michael Jackson fan. I grew up in the 80s and I used to live in Michigan in a city not too far from Detroit (i.e. Motown). You would hear his songs on the radio and my brothers had all of his albums. I had a VHS tape of "Thriller" that I would watch all the time, and I even had a little red, faux leather jacket that looked like the jacket he wore in the video. I even had a Michael Jackson action figure/doll. So when I heard that he died, I was shocked and sad and thought that it was a shame. I thought it was a shame because he never had the chance to live a normal life. Immediately after his death there was wall-to-wall coverage about him and what might have happened. A small—very small—portion of the coverage was positive. Stations like MTV and VH1 were showing his videos. Considering MTV and VH1 have turned into Reality TV and seem to have not shown videos in about 15 years, this is huge for them and it is almost sad that it takes the death of a singer for them to go back to their roots. But here you saw the creativity and genius in his videos and you could appreciate his talent as a singer and dancer.

But most of the coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been in the style of a tabloid magazine. Once the news broke of his death, CNN had non-stop coverage and discussion about his death. On one side of the screen, some "expert" or "friend" would be talking about something, but on the other side of the screen was a parade of images. You saw him dangling his baby over the balcony, arriving to court in pajamas, going to Disneyland with a group of children, all suggesting strange or salacious behavior. Then they showed a series of images of how his appearance has changed over the years. CNN is not alone; other TV stations have been doing the same thing. There have been shows that are supposed to be "tributes" or "remembrances," but what they showed was every questionable or "freakish" thing that has gone on in his life. Then at the end of the show, in the final five or ten minutes, they would say "when we come back, we look at what really mattered, the music and the talent." Well, if that is what really mattered, why did you spend 50 minutes showing the scandalous aspects of his life?

Although his death is sad, I'm really getting sick of hearing about it on the news. You can't get away from it. Just when you think that some other important event occurs in the news—like a war, a governor getting caught with a mistress, another governor resigning before finishing out one term, or what is supposed to be an important holiday—some other Michael Jackson news story takes over. Who is going to get custody of the kids? What prescription drugs did he have? How much is he in debt? How much will he be worth now that he is dead? Why didn't he like his appearance? What is Bubbles the Chimp doing now? It is sad and pathetic that even in death every detail of his life is being picked apart. I wish they would focus on him more as an entertainer and less as a freak show. But because of the kind of coverage his death has been getting, I really am sick of hearing about it and I want to know what else is going on in the world. It is all a little too much. You can't turn on the TV without hearing about it.

Where is a good Law & Order episode when you need it?