MJ Coverage: How Much Is Too Much?

At some point it's enough, but honestly even though I have zero interest in this story I haven't overdosed on it. I haven't been watching a lot of cable news, but still, I sort of expected at this point the media would be covering this story at the exclusivity of all else, which is definitely not the case. I caught the news this morning and they had stories on Obama in Russia and Palin at least as prominently as the Jackson stuff. It's only wall-to-wall if you watch Larry King, which, you know, is probably your fault.

I haven't been watching news, so I haven't been overexposed. Yeah there are a lot of headlines, but since I read most of my news it hasn't been too hard to skip past the MJ coverage. I was never a MJ fan and don't see what all the fuss is about, but plenty of people have already come back at me with "most influential musician ever" stuff, and accused me of racism/cruelty because I don't think this is Most Newsworthy Thing Ever, so whatever. I'm staying out of this one. A lot of people were really touched by his music, and see his (alleged?) personal indiscretions and eccentricities as tragic in the context of a life/childhood stolen by the media and the fans, and are glad that he's getting a good send-off. The whole obsession with celebrity culture is a big part of the question - how much freaking media space did Anna Nicole Smith, her death, her will, the custody battle, etc get? I don't think that the news should necessarily get so involved in the cultural-obsession-media feedback loop, but in comparison to train-wrecks like that, I'd say that MJ's death 'deserves' more attention than they do. Blah...

This isn't a comment to try to quantify what is or is not "too much" coverage. But what I find fascinatiing is people complaining about "too much" coverage when their actions do not support the words. They cry "Too much" and yet, by amazing coincidence they're here clicking on every single MJ Story in order to comment (when there are plenty of others to click on), the ratings for the various news shows have gone through the roof. Magazines are flying off the shelf like they were free. Jackson has, like, a billion records in the top 100.
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No is forcing anyone to watch or buy or click on any of these things, it's all free will. To me, this CLEARLY indicates that there is a very, very big disconnect between what people are saying and what people are actually doing, because the numbers just don't add up. This leads me to believe that while people may say it's too much in public, but in private they're drinking it up like cats to cream.
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But because the public is also fickle and easily subject to Bread and Circuses, by next week Britney Spears or John & Kate or LiLo will have had yet another public meltdown of some sort and folks will move on to that even as they cry "too much."

Two weeks ago the public wanted to lynch him. Today the public is finding it hard to live without him. People spend waaay too much time and money on knucklehead celebrities. BTW, I'm still waiting for some of them leave due to Bush's re-election. How 'bout it? Now THAT would be news-worthy!!

Just got a text literally seconds ago from CNN Breaking News: At memorial service in L.A., Michael Jackson's daughter Paris says he was "the best father you could ever imagine."
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That much is too much. A daughter saying she loved her dad at his funereal is not breaking news.

"It's not our decision," you say. Then whose is it? The readers, sure. Newsworthiness, editorial vision, all that bogus journalistic ethic we were taught to believe in has gone down the drain. Let the readers decide. No wonder the gap between the mainstream press and the National Enquirer is paper thin.

The death of a celebrity is news. The investigation into the cause of death is news. Up to a point the grieving of the fans is news. But this is not the JFK assassination. We're talking about an entertainer — one out of many, however popular he was. How much is enough is always subjective. But there's nothing subjective about "all the time."

This is shameless pandering with no limits and no critical perspective.

Unfortunately, all the media coverage will continue, not only for his fans who want to memorialize him, but also for corporate America who want to make money off of Michael. It's sad to say, but Michael Jackson albums, books, and magazines flyin off the shelves, videos and "news" about his will, his children, etc, all over our televisions; Fans are interested and corporate America is profiting. I know some want it to stop, but don't complain to fans who loved him, his family who miss him, and especially his children who will always (unfortunately) be targeted, but look at the corporations who are lookin for any way to make more money from an already large money maker.

Thank you newsmuse, I couldn't agree more. The tabloid journalism and sheer sensationalism of the past several days is enough for thinking people to lose all faith in the fourth estate.
On a personal level, the showboating of ego's and over-the-top eulogizing is sickening. A paedophile who can sing is still a paedophile.

I should perhaps rephrase earlier statements now, since I didn't see as much coverage as I was expecting until this afternoon, when suddenly there was a memorial/concert/thing and everyone was watching it and twittering about how they were watching it. So now it'd be okay if it would go away.

I think the fact that the internet and mobile communication was almost brought to its knees a week and a half ago when news started to trickle out that The King of Pop had died is evidence enough that people want to hear and see whats happening with their beloved Michael Joseph Jackson. We may not like it or care but perhaps we should just be in awe of this great man and the effect he had on people across all demographics.

@James,
Just stopped by to see what you're up to in TV land these days, and made the mistake of reading some of the comments on your other Michael Jackson send-off piece.
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Let me say one thing first: people are nuts. I mean completely, utterly, totally looney-tunes-nuts. Like maybe the Obama administration should just bite the bullet and start putting some heavy anti-psychotics in the drinking water . . . Wow. Just wow.
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That said, I wanted to say "keep up the good work." Not only are your views, opinions, and reviews fairly insightful and balanced, but you also know how to bring out the "crazy" in readers. And that's always fun!

It was much too much. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588

[...] Jackson. It is, to be honest, basically an amalgamation of my two posts earlier this week about the news coverage of his death and about the memorial ceremony (which, among other things, responded to his media [...]