-By Warner Todd Huston
WaTimes writer Jennifer Harper gave me a ring the night that Michael Jackson died and asked for some reaction to the media coverage. I have no interest in Michael Jackson specifically. I’ve never purchased his music and likely never will. I used to switch stations when I heard his stuff hit my radio.
But, Harper’s angle was interesting. Read on music lover…
Death video, photos radiate as media, Internet go viral
By Jennifer Harper
It is shades of paparazzi past.
A photo of Michael Jackson, engulfed by an oxygen mask and lying in an ambulance, was made public Thursday afternoon, even before his death was officially announced. Footage of Mr. Jackson’s body being moved from hospital to morgue was trailed overhead by a TV station helicopter, as if the crew were following a police chase or tracking a celebrity wedding.
“It’s truly the coarsening of our culture. It’s the Princess Diana syndrome. Can you remember a time in the past when morbid photos of celebrities were spread all over the place for all to see?” said Warner Todd Huston, a media analyst with Newsbusters.com and publiusforum.com.
“It is driving us down the road of bad taste and poor judgment. Some of it has to do with our culture of communication. You have to know things right this minute. Now. On Twitter, or on the screen. People are not willing to be reflective at a time like this, which deserved solemnity,” Mr. Huston said.
Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, said he “wouldn’t be surprised if we see the autopsy photos….
To read the rest: Death video, photos radiate as media, Internet go viral.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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