I know posting about Michael Jackson is completely played out, but you’ve gotta read this brilliant commentary by Stephen King ^{[1]Yes, that Stephen King} in the print edition of the newest issue of Entertainment Weekly^{[1]Yes, that Entertainment Weekly} :

It’s sickening that it takes a columnist in an entertainment magazine to point out that more than 2,000 newspeople covered the Jackson trial — which is only a few hundred more than the number of American servicemen and women who have died in Iraq. On the same day that crowds gathered in Times Square (and around the world) to learn the fate of the Pale Peculiarity, another four suicide bombings took place in that tortured, bleeding country. And if you tell me that news doesn’t belong in Entertainment Weekly, I respond by saying Michael Jackson under a black umbrella doesn’t belong on the front page of the New York Times.
[. . .]
The media first turned the trial into a freak-show by emphasizing Jackson’s peculiarities rather than his humanity, and stoked the ratings with constant, trivializing coverage while other, far more important stories went under-reported or completely ignored in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Washington, D.C.

The press might respond by saying, “We gave the people what they wanted.”

My response would be, “My job is to give them what they want. When he steps into a recording studio, it’s Michael Jackson’s job to give them what they want. Your job is to give the people what they need.”

Is it just me or does it seem that the worse things get with news organizations, the more we see entertainers like John Stewart, Al Franken, and now Stephen King feel like they’re forced to pick up the slack?