Proportionality? I'm off for a walk - a long one
Michael Jackson's death offers one of those rare moments when the media's collective sense of proportion goes west, argues Dougal Paver.
The blanket coverage needs no reprising here: you'd have to live in a cave not to realise that an American singer called Michael Jackson has died.
What you may not have learnt, amidst the media's beatification of a man who enjoyed sleeping with children, is that he had three of his own. And that the poor things are now without a dad. But let's not let that get in the way of a good frenzy.
The media are free, of course, to decide their own editorial agendas. The BBC, however, is not: their royal charter demands balance and proportionality and there's been precious little of that on display from where I'm sitting.
Look, the man wasn't a saint. Apart from his predilections for young children which, frankly, should have (a) seen him in jail; (b) seen him banished from the media in disgrace; and (c) resulted in his own kids placed with a more responsible adult, he was a washed-out creative force in need of professional help in dealing with some pretty severe demons rattling around his head.
Instead, what we had was the predictable self-destruction lapped up only too readily, a la Jade Goody, by a media agog at the ratings potential of it all.
And is it just me or was he really that popular? When I was a teenager Jackson was at the height of his popularity and I don't recall the 'cult of Michael' that the media suggest.
Yes, a few of the dull lasses at the back of the class thought he was cute, but the real obsession was with bands like Spandau Ballet and the like. Even the Police were bigger, not to mention early 80s rock behemoths like Whitesnake and Rainbow. Jackson was a catchy distraction, nothing more.
Anyhow, you can kiss goodbye to selling in quirky stories to the nationals until the poor fellow's buried: there'll be bugger-all space for much else in the meantime.
And here's hoping that, quietly, three small children get the love, care and stability they'll need to grow in to happy, functioning adults.
PS. For another example of proportionality, truth and balance going west, try this.
COMMENTS
Dawn Cowderoy - Wed 15th Jul 2009
100% agree with you Dougal. It quite sickens me to read about what a saint he was in the press - they all seem to have very short memories and I don't remember him being any more popular than any other mainstream artists of the 80s. Yes he made some decent music but to be seen as some sort of deity, well I have to disagree. I also think he should have gone to jail for being a danger to minors. At the very least he has shown extremely poor judgement in letting children in his home and in his bed - but I suppose you have to ask what their parents were doing when they allowed it! Quite extraordinary!
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