It's Official - Media Has Taken Over

I came home from getting the car serviced this morning to find my husband in the house rather than his shop, sitting in front of the TV. He had come in to watch Tiger Woods' public mea culpa.

Well, that just beats all! Normally he figures trangressions like Tiger's are none of our business and should be kept between husband and wife. In this case, though, even Dave got caught up in the media frenzy over this gossip and he just had to see what Tiger said.

I take this as an official sign that the media has taken over the world. It was the media that demanded an apology from Tiger, and any other celebrity who does something stupid, and it was the media that hounded anyone involved in this scandal. They contacted other golfers hoping that they would denounce Tiger for his actions, they searched the world over for Elin Woods and finally photographed her skiing in Europe but to their frustration have never been able to talk to her. Everyone on TV has speculated from the time Tiger's car hit the tree on Thanksgiving on exactly what happened.

Okay, media types, you've had your apology and I hope you will do us all a favor and leave Elin and the kids out of it as Tiger asked. The problem is that the apology won't be good enough for the media; they'll pick apart every word, every nuance of his demeanor, how his mother looked, and every other possible detail and there will still be endless speculation.

This is all none of our business, folks! Please leave these people alone so that they can try to save their marriage or not, whatever they choose. Meanwhile, there is one thing most of the rest of us can be eternally grateful for - not being famous.

Celebrities with Feet of Clay

The huge media hoo-ha over Tiger Woods' car accident and subsequently many women crawling out of the woodwork to say they had affairs with him is a cautionary tale for all of us (including myself) about attributing some kind of super-human qualities to celebrities.

I like to think I'm realistic enough to know famous people are just as human as the rest of us, and that they're subject to a horde of temptations most of us aren't - or can't afford. Yet I'm occasionally disappointed to find that someone I admire has a tendency to think with the wrong part of his anatomy.

The thing that doesn't ring true in this case, as more and more women look for their moment in the spotlight, is why did it take this accident to bring Tiger's "transgressions" to light? If he was having affairs, wouldn't someone have gone to the media before now? I mean Tiger has tons of money and the only reason I can think of for someone to publicly claim an affair with him would be for momentary notoriety and money.

Speaking of which, why has "notoriety" become something to be admired in the past few years? I know I'm a frustrated English teacher or something, but misuse of words like this really annoys me. Is it a reluctance to say, "Hey, I'm famous!" Since when have celebrities been reluctant to say that?

Anyway, back to celebrities and their feet of clay, I do wish the media would find something else to write about and talk about. Tiger is probably wishing someone else would do something to divert their attention as much as I am. Let Tiger and Elin sort this out on their own, please, so we can have some media coverage of important stuff - like football. :-)

Not All the News is Really News

I've been a news junkie since I was a little kid. Almost from the day I learned to read in fact. I read newspapers, get the news on TV and radio, and now the internet. The problem is that somewhere along the line the news business deserted me.

The "news" now is guessing what might happen, telling us what happened some time ago, scaring us to death with worst case scenarios, "stuff" that is really none of our business, and last but certainly not least, celebrity gossip. Lord knows the facts of current news are scary enough without all this other garbage thrown in.

My biggest pet peeve is celebrity gossip, like for instance who isn't sick to death of Jon and Kate? From what little I've paid attention to this non-story I simply worry about their children, but otherwise I fail to see why I should be at all interested in their life. Then in recent days the "balloon boy" hoax, like we couldn't see that one coming. Again, I feel sorry for the kids but please no more about that pathetic family. Paris and Britney must be green with envy at the headlines these people are getting, and probably laying awake nights trying to figure out a way to get noticed again.

A lot of what passes for news these days reminds me of the color coded threat level of the Bush administration. We're supposed to monitor our level of stress according to the color of the day or what? We all know the world is a dangerous place. News organizations shouldn't tell us what could happen, just what actually happened. If someone is charged with plotting terrorism, that's news. On the other hand, people take their cues from news, especially TV news, so I wish TV would pay as much attention to the good things people do as they do crime. I know, if it bleeds it leads, and has for as long as there has been a way to deliver the news. However, we're evolving that delivery system in the wrong way.

I'm very sad that newspapers across the country are either going out of business entirely or limiting their publication to the internet. However, part of the blame lies at their own door. What we want from newspapers is a fuller account of things that happen than we get on TV or radio or even the internet. When they stop fulfilling that need they become redundant and useless. I still read the local papers for the local news, but I'm hard put to find a way to learn more in the knowledge that I'm getting the information from a reliable source. I sure miss it.