Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
It's not a fun thing to be in a newsroom when a major icon suddenly dies. Scrambling for scarce actual facts before anything other than the death itself is known leads reporters to fall back on their comfort zones; the tried and true rubrics and the old worn out reliable sources. It's a terrible challenge to be respectful to the tragedy in such times while trying to feed the news beast, but at such moments a news organization shows where its heart is.
Tonight, in its coverage of the death of Whitney Houston, CNN gave its viewers a horrible glimpse into the hollowness at its core.
It was actually the Associated Press that started the coverage off on an "Uh Oh" note. Within minutes of the announcement of her death, the wire service posted a comprehensive 1300 plus word obituary guiding readers through the highlights of her career. Given Houston's well publicized substance abuse problems, it is understandable that the service would have felt the need to pre-write an obituary—a standard practice within news organizations—but it was hard not be taken aback to see that obviously prepared work thrust out so quickly.
But far worse was to come as CNN began its Breaking News blanket reporting. As the very young Saturday anchor on duty scrambled to fill the air time, viewers and Houston fans were treated, on top of the usual grasping at straws inanities, to the following:
- A parade of America's leading ghouls and vultures fighting for their bit of air time in the wake of the death, including Al Sharpton, Dr. Drew and Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman—the latter a regular presence on Breaking News Hollywood death broadcasts, this time appearing with the stunning report that the Grammy Party of Clive Davis, Houston's mentor, was likely to be affected by the news.
- A reporter stopping people on the street to gleefully break the news of Houston's death and capture their stunned reactions, like some sort of Letterman prank.
- The only "news" the Cable News Network provided in these first hours has thus far been reading of celebrity tweets responding to the death. The fun began in the first hour of the coverage when the anchor suddenly announced that Malcolm Jamal Warner had tweeted his condolences. The 140 character regrets of Kim Kardashian among others soon followed.
This seems to be what we need a major news organization for these days: to read celebrity tweets to us. Because apparently they think 140 characters are more than we could get through on our own.
RIP Whitney Houston. Whatever the facts of her demise, one of America's great singers of the past decades. And that for us is the tragedy of this; that she was not a Kim Kardashian celebrity era famous-for-being-famous star but an actual superhuman talent whom by all rights should have been amazing us for decades to come. That the coverage of her death should be swallowed up by the culture of Kardashian tweets shows exactly where our culture has gone.
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Dec '10
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
Richard,
This isn't about fame and it isn't about talent. This is about a society which has accepted amorality as a NORM! Both Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston died of an overdose of amorality.
No amount of talent, money, fame, or power can make up for having no fundemental values. This evil KILLS!!
Regards,
Jim
Oct '10
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
Was a big fan of Whitney Houston.
May '11
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
There is definitely a lot of filler in the 24 hour news cycle. How long can you repeat perhaps a minute's worth of information on a breaking story? Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to move on to other events instead of pointless twitter commentaries and the reactions of unknowning citizens on the street.
Apr '11
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
Wow, that much airtime to fill and no one found a way to blame Sarah Palin? My admittedly low opinion of CNN just ticked up!
I'll admit I do find some dark humor in the idea of CNN anchors breaking into their coverage to report a breaking tweet by Malcolm Jamal Warner as if it were the election night results from Florida. Makes me think of the classic Eddie Murphy skit on SNL about absurd media coverage of Buckwheat's assassination.
Apr '11
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
@James, quite true. The narrative after these tragedies is always "Oh well, fame kills - it's just a pact with the devil."
No. Living in an insulated cesspool of immature, depraved narcissism kills. This is true in the spotlights of Hollywood or the anonymity of a crack house. Tim Tebow is pretty famous. Anyone expect him to OD in a pool of vomit? That's why they despise him.
Hollywood devours its own while it continues to make film after film about the evils lurking in middle America.
Jun '10
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
CNN=Hyenas
Dec '10
Re: Whitney Houston's Tragic Death Takes CNN to New Lows
Cutlass: @James, quite true. The narrative after these tragedies is always "Oh well, fame kills - it's just a pact with the devil."
No. Living in an insulated cesspool of immature, depraved narcissism kills. This is true in the spotlights of Hollywood or the anonymity of a crack house. Tim Tebow is pretty famous. Anyone expect him to OD in a pool of vomit? That's why they despise him.
Hollywood devours its own while it continues to make film after film about the evils lurking in middle America. · 14 hours ago
100% Cutlass 100%,
Jim