Celebrities

How can CNN be talking about "American Idol" and the marriage of the Prince of Wales to his long-time mistress when there are so many more important, current events going on in our world? Celebrity's personal lives should be left for shows like "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood," hence the names given to these two of many shows celebrating celebrities. There is a serious, deadly, cruel war going on right now that is entirely more important than who the next "American Idol" is going to be. A deadly earthquake followed by an even more tragic tsunami killed and will continue to kill, through disease, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children. Why aren't CNN and other shows similar to CNN showing what is going on in Sri Lanka and India? Why aren't there pictures of the missing Americans in Phuket, more than likely the most toured city in

Thailand and one of those hit the hardest by the tsunami? At least the families could have some kind of peace knowing that their loved ones, or at

least any of their remains, are being looked for and not forgotten. The twenty-four hour news channels should concentrate on what matters to the

majority of people, not just what is going to get them ratings or simply fill up space. It is extremely frustrating to see that one can learn more about the tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and MTV or in People magazine rather than being able to see it on the 24-hour news or even the local news for that matter (Winfrey, 01/17/05). Why are the Grammy's and the Oscars being so commercialized on channels like CNN when they should be caring about what is being done to our soldiers in Iraq or even the Iraqi women and children (Noujaim,2004)? If award shows like these are so important, people can just watch the actual award ceremony on the local channel it's going to

broadcast on. The ceremony shows the winners, as well as the nominees. Does it really matter that Christina Aguilera got engaged much less, who

popped the question (FoxNews.com, 2004)? In the whole scheme of things, it definitely should not matter. When a show like CNN goes from talking

about who was nominated for "the best song of the year" to how many American soldiers or Iraqi women and children were killed in Falujah, it will desensitize the severity of the hunger, poverty, violence, and death in our real world right now.

Understandably, people can get caught up in the scandals, secrets and controversy of celebrity's lives. Yet are those lives more important than the

lives of the thousands, probably millions, of orphaned babies in India and Thailand (Winfrey, 01/24/05)? Suppose there is a wonderful, loving couple in America that, unfortunately cannot have kids. Instead of seeing all the wonderful little faces that simply need a smile and a loving family, there is a story on CNN about who the next juror will be for the Michael Jackson trial. Yes, some may want to know about the alleged incident with the legendary Bill Cosby allegedly drugging and groping a woman years ago. When it comes out that he is not guilty, all the station has done is make a mentor, a teacher, and a father come out looking as if he were a pervert (CNN, 02/17/05). All the kids that have been watching him and are still watching him and look up to him will be crushed for no reason, simply because they were watching the news with their families. How is that serving the

public good? Shouldn't the lazy press own up to their responsibilities? BBC news doesn't seem to celebrate the lives of celebrities as much as the others do. They