William & Kate: I Don’t Care

Enough already!

Thank goodness they’re finally married. One month lead-up of news stories, then one solid week of coverage from Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and any other organization with any initials you can come up with what’s his name and Kate Middleton are finally hitched. To say this wedding was over-covered would be the understatement of the year.

You might ask why. And I would answer with this question: What makes this particular couple so special? People get married every day. Granted, the weddings are usually smaller affairs with fewer politicians, but that alone would be a reason to smile to heaven that you weren’t invited.

But come on folks, this is not even an American wedding.

All kidding aside, however, what really was the big deal? Answer: There wasn’t any. What this event was is called a pseudo-event. That is something that looks important but upon closer examination is probably not. Not that it was what’s his name and Kate’s fault. They didn’t ask the media to cover their wedding. The media just came early, as in six months to a month of news coverage, and stayed late. This was the media getting excited about something that was not that important. Sure, interest was there, but enough to warrant this type of coverage? I watched CBS the week leading up to the EVENT, and I swear Katie Couric could not have been more excited about her own wedding.

Truth is, this wedding got darn near as much news coverage as the United State’s withdrawal from Vietnam. Truth is, there were, and are, a lot more important things occurring on this big round planet than the marriage of two rich folks. Not to mention British rich folks.

This is what drives me nuts about the news media. More and more, the media over-cover stupid events, events that deserve some coverage but not the vast amount they provide. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that the wedding is stupid, just the amount of coverage. There’s a difference and it’s big.

For example: Remember the week that Mother Teresa died? The newspapers around the world, as well the television stations, reverently reported the sad news of one of the world’s greatest philanthropists giving up the ghost. Her philanthropy was not with money, but with her entire life.

From 1931 to 1948 she lived in Calcutta and saw some of the worst slums in the world. In 1950 she started her own order, The Missionaries of Charity, to which more than a million missionaries in more than 40 countries belong. Mother Teresa never left the slums of Calcutta, however. In 1979 she earned (which is even better than just winning) the Nobel Peace Prize.

On Sept. 5, 1997, the great woman died.

Her story is a great one and should have been told over and over again in the weeks following her death.

Sadly, that never happened. You see, the media had what they considered a bigger story, one they refused to let die. That was the death of Princess Diana. If you remember, she died five days earlier in a tragic car accident.

Whom do you think got the most news coverage? Princess Di, of course, and it wasn’t even close. The media over-covered the circumstances of her death, over-covered the funeral, over-covered the aftermath of the funeral, over-covered the entire episode. And under-covered the death of a great woman, Mother Teresa.

Let’s compare the accomplishments of the two. Mother Teresa spent a lifetime helping poor people, she founded a charity that helped millions, she won the Nobel Peace Prize, and she influenced in a positive manner literally millions of people. Diana married a prince, divorced him amid rumors of infidelity on both sides, and did charity work as well. Which one do you think was the pseudo-event?

And take the case of John Kennedy Jr.’s death. The overkill of that coverage was nothing short of ridiculous. Like Diana, he was a celebrity, someone well-known for his well-knownness. John Jr. was famous for what? For being born to a president. Diana was well-known for what? Marrying a prince.

It’s time for the media, as well as the people who attend to the media, to realize what real news is and what it isn’t. This is not to say that the media shouldn’t have covered the death of Princess Di or John Kennedy Jr., or that the audience shouldn’t be the least bit interested in the marriage of what’s his name to Kate, just that they both keep it in perspective.

I think I’ve said enough on the topic. Anyhow, it’s time for me to check my Twitter account and see if Lindsey Lohan is in jail or out.