Entertainment-ish news

Childhood isn't childhood without bedtime stories. Like the plots of most fairy tales, every girl dreams she's a princess who will one day be rescued by her valiant prince, while every boy fantasizes about proving his vast masculinity to win a fair and helpless woman's affection. \nThese roles, though archaic, are the bedrock of one of the most beloved genres of literature, and culture continues to embrace them for their romanticized entertainment value. The "damsel in distress" plot is as much a soul food to this country as apple pie. \nWhile there's no harm indulging in fairy tales, there's an issue of ethics involved when networks are crazed to sensationalize the "happily ever after" endings to the tragedies of helpless, yet beautiful, white girls simply for their stereotypical damsel appeal. \nElizabeth Smart, whose nine-month kidnapping hailed headlines everywhere in the country, wooed millions of American hearts with her story. Everyone prayed for her safe return from the alleged abductor Brian Mitchell, who smuggled her at knife-point to claim her as his second wife. After her rescue, CBS, ABC, NBC and publishers didn't waste time before offering deals for the rights to her story. \nAccording to a Reuters report released Friday, media "have been slinging ... accusations of treachery at each other as they maneuver to package and promote rival stories of Elizabeth's ordeal to their greatest commercial advantage." \nThe article states that Doubleday Books releases its publication, "Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope," next week, and CBS prematurely advertised its made-for-TV drama "The Elizabeth Smart Story" before NBC could feature its Katie Couric interview with the Smart family, which was broadcast Friday. ABC also jump-started its promotion for today's Oprah interview prior to the Couric interview. \nIn essence, Doubleday resents CBS, CBS resents NBC and NBC wishes Oprah didn't have to ruin everything. \nMade-for-TV movies? Million-dollar book deals? Preemptive advertisements days in advance of interviews? How hungry is the media to sensationalize this story until it's as cliché as the fairy tales it resembles? \nSixteen-year-old Elizabeth isn't the only damsel collecting from her distress. According to an Associated Press report released Friday, Jessica Lynch, former POW in Iraq, has made deals to promote her book, "I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," scheduled to come out in November. She'll appear on "Today" to promote it, prior to the airing of NBC's made-for-TV movie "Saving Jessica Lynch." Though Lynch wasn't the only POW recovered from Iraq, she's a white girl; therefore, she meets the criteria of fairy t ale news. \nI guess Shoshana Johnson, thought to be the first black female POW ever rescued, and who coincidentally served in the same company as Lynch, just wasn't "newsworthy" enough.\n Should victims Smart and Lynch have their traumatic events cheapened by the commercialism of networks?\n These are news programs, yet their interviews don't contain any news value. The trial against Smart's captors hasn't even begun. Her media attention is the result of a book and ratings. \n There's an obvious distinction between publicity and news, and when networks cross-pollinate the two, the public is left with hybrid sources of entertainment-ish news or news-ish entertainment. Viewers should be concerned that the programs they expect will inform them of the serious issues are leading with interviews like Ben and J. Lo's relationship and their movie "Gigli," rather than updates on Iraq or the plunging deficit. \nSo what is news? It isn't "new" anymore when every channel is giving the same interview to the same people with no other timely value than the interviewees are about to sell their fairy tale endings at a Barnes & Noble near you. \nAnd it certainly isn't "new" if it's a formula plot line.