Anna Nicole: death of a corporate scam

One night, as I flipped through the channels, I came across what I assumed was an entertainment-based network showing clips and up-to-date info on the death and burial of Anna Nicole Smith. I was shocked to find out the late Smith, 27 days since her death, is still receiving headline coverage on one of America’s most powerful news stations: CNN.\nI’m not saying the death of Anna Nicole Smith was not a tragic event, nor am I glorifying her life. I am, however, confounded. In the age of Iraqi war, global warming and upcoming presidential election, the death of a former Playboy Playmate and wife of a really, really old guy received nonstop coverage for days at a time. If this is the information that must be spread to an entire nation’s population – while troops are being sent to a foreign war and candidates for the next presidential nomination are rising to a platform – it is time to dethrone the current media kings.\nLiberals tune in to CNN, and conservatives tune in to Fox News. The announcement of news geared toward a political group’s agenda is what corporate media are about these days, and it poses a serious question we all must ask ourselves: Should information have a bias?\nLike true artists in the world at large, true artists in the world of journalism have suffered the indignity of skewed and butchered truth. Artists in the field of information aspire to present the masses with the indisputable truth in hopes the people will realize its importance and act on it appropriately. As we can see in the real world, this is not the case. Competing news groups often aspire to have an edge, the most appealing data, the most opinionated twist on factual data. How often do you hear a newscaster read the news and nothing more? Despite this tragic twisting of the facts, many students still believe in the possibilities of their art.\nMany journalism students want to correct this trend and, hopefully, undo the business aspect of the media to deliver the news as unbiased truth. \nHopefully, the highly respectable art of information will be transformed by the time our generation rules the world. As a lot of people know, it is hard to make a stand in the world of art without getting swept into the tide of greed, advertising and corporate agendas.\nThankfully, the media industry might have undone itself with its latest obsession with the death of Anna Nicole Smith. The wool has been removed from America’s eyes, prompting journalistic artists from coast to coast to cry out, “This is bullcrap!”