More Press, More Shame

The media as self-appointed "watch dog"

 

I don’t think sarcasm is one of my better qualities and I also don’t think sarcasm serves much real use, but I have to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the press for exposing the teenage pregnancy in the Palin family. I have to say that I feel much better about life in general now that this scandal has been brought to light, and I am especially thankful that these self-appointed “guardians of truth” and “public watchdogs” are ever vigilant and prepared to inform me of things I really need to know. And the fact that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant (and currently unmarried) is one bit of information I really needed to be aware of as I continue to judge for myself whom I will vote for in this coming election. 

 

Thankfully, the true gentleman from Illinois barked his take on the media’s vigilance in the matter of Gov. Palin’s daughter and her situation: FAMILY IS OFF-LIMITS, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN. Is it funny or rather, scary that presidents and candidates must make a public declaration before it is understood that one’s spouses and children are not candidates for public office and are therefore exempt from the cruelty and scrutiny of such leaches hungry for a story, any story, that will make headlines and produce a byline? Isn’t it sad that such items actually make the news, having been submitted by overzealous reporters but also having gotten past presumably more seasoned and experienced editors? This is news?

 

Senator Obama is not going to get my vote for president this time around, but he has certainly earned my respect and a second look for his willingness to step up in this case and hammer the media for going into that which should be perpetually off-limits without public declaration. It is not necessary that we know such things about anyone, and the person or persons who “exposed” this earth-shaking information should be brought to light and called on to explain what they hoped or expected to achieve from such a shameful display.

 

Is this kind of reporting the sort of thing we simply have to learn to live with, sort of like the military’s collateral damage regarding those innocents who are harmed incidentally, for the sake of the bigger picture? I say absolutely not. Putting a muzzle on such reporting in the mainstream media – which is fast showing itself a follower of such trailblazing reporting as that of The National Enquirer – will have to be done by we who expect more from these self-appointed “guardians”. They hide behind the US Constitution in such matters and will suggest that we must learn to live with such things in the name of “freedom”. It is fast becoming more and more evident that it is the media, perhaps, from which we need to be protected.

 

Be aware, dear reader, that we do ultimately have the power to control this monster and help harness their self-declared “power” and independence. Stop demanding such shameful displays of arrogance and insensitivity. Stop buying the publications that print such drivel. And for pity’s sake, stop taking such stories so seriously. These reporters give it because far too many of us willingly take it, and eagerly. Boy, do we love scandals.

 

Still, they who brought to light this “expose” should be ashamed of themselves even as there is virtually no way they can be held accountable for what they’ve done to a 17-year-old who did not deserve national attention on a very private situation. It is not my business that she and her boyfriend had a lapse in judgment. Why are the media trying to make it the nation’s business?

Reviews

[Michael]

I suppose it is like our own Congress in that we get what we demand. Perhaps more so, however, is that we get what is left after our refusal to even make demands. Thank you for your thoughts.

[W.k.kortas]

While it is regrettable--more than that, lamentable--that Governor Palin's daughter has been shoved into the media spotlight, there is the hint of the suggestion here that it is the "mainstream media" of our age that is fault, even though, proper or not, the families of Presidential candidates have always been "fair game"-- e.g., the questions as to why Lincoln's eldest son remained at Harvard instead of enlisting, Cleveland's alleged fathering of an illegitimate child, Carter's neer-do-well brother; indeed, one would think that Governor Palin could not be unaware that her daughter and her pregnancy would become public property. You suggest, wisely, that we have created the market for such salaciousness through our own baser instincts--yet you intimate we should shoot the messenger. Perhaps it is better to realize, as you suggest, that our faults are not in our stars or our satellite dishes, but in ourselves.