Who's to blame for Media Coverage?

If there's one thing there's been too much of in the news, it's Anna Nicole Smith.

Since her death on February 8, virtually every newscast, newspaper, and online publication has featured regular updates on the various debacles caused by the former playmate. It can't be avoided. Furthermore, it's not the media's fault.

First it was the anticipation leading up to the cause of her death, which was ruled an accidental overdose from sleeping pills. Story after story gave updates almost every second. If people did not like the story, like the weather in New England, all they had to do was wait a minute.

Then it was the inquest of her son Daniel's death. He died September 10, three days after Smith gave birth to baby Dannielynn. Officials say he died from a combination of methadone and antidepressants, but an inquest was launched to determine whether the death was accidental, a suicide or even a homicide.

Now the media paints the picture of a fierce battle waging in the Bahamas over the real father of baby Dannielynn. Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead have been facing off in court and the results of a DNA test could be revealed today.

And even after the results are released the media frenzy will continue as another battle wages over the proper guardian of Dannielynn.

While this circus continues, hundreds are dying in the Middle East, hundreds more are dying on the streets of our own cities from senseless gun violence, and the United States is in all sorts of economic trouble.

But what America can't get enough of is Anna Nicole Smith. The whorish lifestyle of the former playmate has mesmerized viewers and readers across the country.

And it's not the media's fault. News stations tend to pander more toward the popular topics among their audience in order to maintain that audience. In this case, people would rather hear about who had sex with an untalented southern hussy than the deaths of our sons and daughters in a foreign land.

The scapegoat for this coverage has always been the media. But the media only airs what people will watch or read.

So the next time you get fed up with the coverage on the 6:00 news, you don't have to look far to place blame. Just look in the mirror.