Will work for...: Yes, this story is about Anna Nicole Smith

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Yes, this story is about Anna Nicole Smith

The Anna Nicole Smith story is not going to go away. Surely, a disappointment to all the "serious" types that ask why the media (most of these people are part of the media --BTW) even has to cover these type of soft, frivolous pieces of "news-like" events. This is why via Tim Rutten.

Plain curiosity is an essential ingredient of the journalistic enterprise, and those who deny its operation in the interest of some higher value usually are not entirely to be trusted.

Source: latimes.com

Of course, one of the cheapest journalistic tricks going is to get a piece of a mindless, tawdry media frenzy by denouncing it. The writer gets to wallow profitably in whatever gutter has everybody's attention while still being wry and high-minded. The readers get to join the fun without losing their self-respect. It's a win-win sort of arrangement for a certain knowing-wink-and-sly-nod wing of the media culture.

Source: latimes.com