Grateful to Miss Out on America's Media Obsessions

 Washington working on the Debt Deal

Recently, friends were visiting Istanbul from Palo Alto, California and I asked them, "what's everyone talking about in Palo Alto?" Being political junkies, like me, they cited the inability of Washington to come to a debt deal. Now this was something I have an opinion on!

Even though I'm overseas, I'm still an American citizen and care passionately about the health of my nation. It's easy to follow the twists and turns of the debate because all of that journalism is easily accessible to expats.

 Casey Anthony

Not all of America's journalism is so accessible to expats.  For that, I'm grateful.  It causes the occasional occurrence, where all of a sudden, my friends back home are discussing something and I have no idea what they're talking about.  Their Facebook feeds light up with outrage at a story, and I"m left with "huh, what?" Such was the case with the Casey Anthony story and a lady named Nancy Grace. Apparently, using a lot of understatement, America does not like either of them.

 Nancy Grace

Casey Anthony is a young mother whose child died. She waited a month to report it. She was prosecuted for murder and was not convicted because the jury was not convinced that a murder happened, thinking it could just as likely have been a bad accident that the family did not have the courage to report. Nancy Grace is the America reporter whose anger at this young mother has captured the notice of numerous chroniclers as completely over-the-top.

Reading enough about the story to get the gist, I'm glad I missed it.  Following it closely would not been a good use of my time and given how angry the people are who DID follow it closely, I can't say it would have been good for my soul.  I don't love to be outraged, although I recognize there are plenty of people who do, and this Nancy Grace lady seems to play to that. And what could I have done to improve the situation? Nothing.

 Tony Blair

Facebook makes it very easy to see the media's influence on folks because all of sudden, numerous people will all break out discussing the same issues, often with the same take.

In conversation, I notice this most often with British people who all use the same word to describe Tony Blair.  To a person, Brits call him George Bush's "poodle." Now if they were all thinking that idea on their own, without help from the media, wouldn't there be some variety in the language used?  'Poodle' is not the most common pejorative.

This week's news story about the extent of privacy invasion in Britain all in an effort to bring readers the "dirt" on celebrities has caused me to reflect.  How, have I, as a reader contributed to this sad practice? Do I need to read about celebrities? Do I want to know stuff that's not my business?

 These dresses! I love them!

I don't care about Hollywood celebrities' private lives, but I do enjoy seeing their dresses. That doesn't involve invading their privacy. Whew!

On reflection, however, there is a particular story I'm ashamed of reading.

I followed the ins and outs of the DSK scandal in New York City. I had never heard of DSK before he made the news for being arrested and have nothing against him personally. Being a feminist, my heart did go out to that poor immigrant single mother.

When the case collapsed, I was sad for her, because I just couldn't believe nothing had happened. I'm sure others following the story believed the same thing which made us want to know how the prosecutors and police said one thing and then changed their mind about going forward with the case.

The New York Times (ironically, not a Murdoch publication) published a story with her confidential hospital report and I read that story. It had been provided to the prosecutor's office for evidence. I am 100% sure the reason they did this is because that's what their readers wanted to know.  The journalists follow the market. I am part of that market. In light of the stories about large corporations using people's misery to sell newspapers, I am now not proud to have done this. I take responsibility. May that lady find peace and be left alone in dignity. I resolve to do better as a reader.

One of my very favorite things about CNN International is that it does not focus on celebrity news.  I've even heard their anchors make fun of CNN domestic for the network's need to run celebrity news (Nancy Grace's ratings were through the roof) because that is what America wants and is voting for with its attention.

I couldn't help but contrast CNN's deeply admirable "Freedom Project" on human trafficking with all of the current headlines about hacking footballer's phone calls. I bet that took real executive courage to put on that series of news reports because it doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator and asks a lot of us citizens to just view, taking in the very real and gritty story of powerless people.

Can we do better as readers and viewers? Do you have a story you've followed that in hindsight either wasn't appropriately sourced or the best use of your time? Can we help empower executives to focus on stories that really do make a difference like the "Freedom Project" rather than on celebrity news?