Sensationalizing a Celebrity's Death, or Why I No Longer Trust CNN

"Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts."
-- Lady Macbeth, Macbeth II.ii.68-70

You probably know by now that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in New York on Tuesday. My roommate found out when she went to CNN.com, as is habit with her (as BBC News is habit with me), and the yellow Breaking News banner told the sad story. We were shocked, since he was such a talent and an icon to us and many others ours age, and saddened that he left a young daughter behind. But that's all I'm going to say about Mr. Ledger himself.

Later, we were in the student union and the TV in the pub/grill was tuned in to CNN. The screen was split into live feed of the building where Ledger was found, some gossip columnist or something speculating about the circumstances of his death, bullet points of vital information, and a news ticker. Four sections all dedicated to penetrating the mysteries of an actor's death. The bullet points changed from reporting suicide to accidental death, and one of the commentators said something about Ledger spending more time in the supermodel culture, where drugs are apparently prevalent, lately, then someone mentioning he had said he'd been having trouble sleeping.

We couldn't watch it anymore. My roommate pointed out that Heath Ledger was not someone who "courted" the public eye and he was a very private person. We the public don't need to know how he died or why. His family needs its privacy and closure, as any other grieving family would. I pray for them as I would for anyone else in their situation, not any more or less because the departed was a celebrity. I don't think we should buy into the sensationalism. I don't know if CNN is trying to attract viewers by dedicating so much effort and speculation to the death of an actor, but they did the same thing after the Virginia Tech tragedy. Granted, that was a very different situation and had more social ramifications and affected more people, yet CNN became a one-story news source.

We are a culture of watchers; perhaps not in quite the sense that Lady Macbeth meant it, but we watch spectacle rather than live lives half the time. We become fixated on public figures and glamorous lives or terrible tragedies. Isn't CNN supposed to be a respected news source? As long as it keeps making cheap entertainment out of the news, I don't think I can look at it with respect.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •