[78-L] Michael Jackson. A Balanced View.

[agp]

At 10:56 27/06/2009, Spats wrote:
>Michael Jackson's death is of-course mentioned on the media in the UK
>as a lead story, not least because he was due to give several massive
>concerts here in the next couple of months. However, we are not
>getting wall to wall coverage.

This is of course, in my opinion, true news has given over to, what 
I'll call, news-ertainment. In the USA it is more about 
sensationalising the news instead of simply reporting the facts. It 
is more about grabbing ratings which in turn grabs advertising 
dollars, rather than substance. We saw this in the wave of 9/11 with 
wall to wall speculation was presented as hard fact. I recall a local 
TV station lead off with a story 'Will the Golden Gate Bridge be blown up
tomorrow? Details at 11', based purely on speculation that some 
dynamite was missing from a hydro project in Texas and the someone 
said that Al-Q might use it to blow up bridges.

As to the UK coverage, I can only speak to one aspect. I heard little 
mention of the event during Janice Long's show on BBC Radio 2 from 
midnight to 3 AM, apart from that which was in the news. Alex Lester 
(3AM to 6AM), however, lead off with a MJ toon every hour after the 
news, leaving me quite disappointed in him. I only heard one MJ track 
on Terry Wogan's show.

Jackson was a pop star, but one whose time had passed. He was 
pathetic in as much as he was a totally lost soul whose pain lead him 
to extreme quirkiness. In a sense, I feel he was insane, and his 
minders let him get away with stuff because he was who he was.

He is being beatified in death in a way that cheapens those who 
contributed far more. I have seen reports about how much did for the 
third world and famine relief with USA for Africa via the record We 
are the World. One news story as much as suggested that he was the 
end all to be all in that effort. IMHO, had it not been for the 
efforts of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure via Band Aid and Live Aid, the 
whole event would never have taken place. Where are any news stories 
of MJ meeting world leaders to urge debt cancellation or efforts to 
relieve suffering.

Was he really all that good? When compared to his contemporaries, 
possibly only as a showman. Whereas Lennon and McCartney left a 
legacy that will live on, artists like Harry Belafonte, Paul Robeson, 
Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, heck even Spike Jones still can be heard 
on the radio. We watched a bit of In the Heat of the Night on TV last 
night and I can say that Sidney Poitier surpasses Jackson in what he 
will be remember for. MJ will possibly only be remembered for 
Thriller. I guess what I'm saying is that all of those people that I 
mentioned, have a breadth that touched many parts of our lives, 
activism for peace, civil rights, support of troops, etc, but Jackson 
was a silo.

Again, I don't own anything by him, never will buy anything by him, 
and only mourn him as the passing of another human being.

T