As you try to influence public policy, you can learn a lot about how the media works based on how Michael Jackson’s death was covered today. First, Mark Sanford is the luckiest man in America tonight.
This morning, the South Carolina governor’s Argentine girlfriend was the biggest story in the country. His scandal was compounded this morning by his admission that he made at least one trip to Buenos Aires to see his girlfriend while on state business. He has promised to reimburse the treasury for those expenses but Republican leaders in the state want Sanford to resign. They’ve been at odds with him for years anyway.
You didn’t hear much about that because Farrah Fawcett died at midday. She was 62. Fawcett, best known as Jill Monroe in Charlie’s Angels and for her Emmy-nominated role in The Burning Bed, battled anal cancer for three years. Farrah’s Story, a documentary about her fight against cancer aired last month.
Fawcett’s posters were among the best sellers for decades. She was more than eye candy though, as she was nominated for an Emmy three times. However, she was better known for disturbing escapades in recent years. Remember her turn on the Late Show with David Letterman?
Fawcett’s death would be the lead story most days. Not today though since Jackson died at mid-afternoon. He was 50. For the first two-thirds of his life, he was the biggest musical star on Earth. He had some eccentricities but he was loved by millions throughout the world.
He was better known for bizarre behavior during the last third of his life. Constant rumors about child molestation. Payoffs to children. Lavish spending. Saddening plastic surgery. The move to Neverland Ranch. The move to Bahrain. The marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe.
Just one episode after the other. Granted, most acts would gladly accept selling 2.1 million copies of a CD as Jackson did of his last CD of original material, Invicible. By his standards though, the album was a flop. Black or White was number one on the Billboard Top 100 for five weeks from December 1991 to January 1992. You Are Not Alone was number one in 1995.
So Jackson had two number-one singles in the last 18 years of his life, none in the past 14 years. A whole lot of acts can top that resume the past two decades and people won’t flood the streets of Los Angeles upon their passing.
I say these things not to be cruel but to illustrate how, as I’ve said previously, it’s better to be dead than poor because the dead are treated better. The media generally whitewashed the negative aspects of Fawcett and Jackson’s lives. They focused on the positive.
Understand that when there is news that captures the entire media’s attention, most outlets will report on it the same way. It’ll be hard to get any sort of balance or complete portrait. Once a storyline is decided, it’ll stay.
Notice no talk about Sanford this afternoon. President Obama was on ABC for an hour last night talking about health care. Nobody cared.
Most importantly, have you heard anyone talk about Neda today? The Iranian government is tightening its grip on protestors while the West’s back is turned.
Realize how fast news cycles spin. Anything that happened before Jackson’s death–and Fawcett’s to a lesser extent–has been forgotten. They’ll stay forgotten unless new developments emerge. The political pundits who were so busy this week had the day off today. Instead, lots of entertainment anchors were on the air for hours at a time.
When you try to get stories publicized, understand that you have a short time to do so. Attention spans are short. Once people have seen something a couple of times, they get bored. You must “spin forward” what you want heard. Offer new “news pegs” on which more reports can be filed. Also accept that a tidal wave of a news story–such as Michael Jackson’s sudden death–can wipe your efforts on the landscape in an instant.
