Media Criticism

The website TMZ has been renowned for its ability to muckrake the dirty deeds of B list celebrities and has-beens over the last year. The Michael Richards racist tirade at LA’s Laugh Factory and Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic comments to police show the type of journalism engages in. Indeed, TMZ is so successful at this work that their web links are picked up by the mainstream media and disseminated with the TMZ logo to millions of people.

I hate to say that TMZ does a service because I think the lives of celebrities are none of my concern. When I pay to see a movie, I pay to see actors at work and I am not entitled to know about their private lives unless they become a hazard to the public. I will say that TMZ uses the type of journalism that major newspapers and cable news networks are beginning to use to pursue leads. The reason this website is able to accomplish successful (gasp) journalism is the topic matter is interesting to a voyeuristic public.

The in-your-face celebrity entertainment of TMZ is now on television. I question the necessity of another crass TV show about celebrity news though my local TV station runs it at 11:05 pm when no one is watching. I will not watch TMZ on TV because a) I think celebrity news is a waste of time and b) It will no doubt get homogenized and decrease its Web credibility with a few months in television no man’s land. If I had to choose between TMZ and, let’s say, Cavemen, I would be really hard pressed to make a decision. Harvey Levin may accidentally give me a laugh while he talks about TMZ’s latest search for celebrity dirt.

I have enjoyed soccer since I played summer ball in high school and college. It is an interesting sport with a lot of grace, speed and skill required over a 90 minute period. The arguments by American sports fans against the sport are understandable when looking through the lens of “mines bigger than yours” sports fans who want scoring and offense constantly.

Alright, I fall into that latter group in certain instances based on my mood. I do know one thing for certain without reservations due to my daily mood swings: America will never be ready for soccer. The only way soccer will make it in America is if we go to a parliamentary system, eliminate other sports and become more physically fit. Unfortunately, none of these things will happen.

David Beckham IS the next Pele when it comes to professional soccer in America. Pele came to America to play pro soccer in New York in the 1970s in the twilight of his career and the league collapsed in the aftermath of his retirement. Beckham has barely played and he is drawing the attention of the people that matter to the media: celebrities. When Beckham retires prematurely due to injury in a year’s time, the media will pack up shop and Tom Cruise will cash in his Galaxy season tickets and try to get American football back in the City of Angels.

It is time to stop pretending that David Beckham is some sports savior and realize that most European soccer observers see him as someone on the wane of his career. Sorry to go sports talk radio on all of you in a media criticism blog but celebrity news and real news shows need to chill out.

As you have no doubt heard, Sen. Barack Obama has responded to the popular video series “Obama Girl” with a combination of disdain and annoyance. In a variety of interviews including Yahoo News, Obama has said that video bloggers and others who create these types of Internet products need to show more responsibility. His children have inquired about the nature of the videos and his wife has expressed frustration with having to deal with this as an issue.

The criticisms from Senators Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd have been that Barack Obama lacks sophistication in his approach to foreign policy. I think he lacks sophistication in his approach to the media. Obama participated in the YouTube debate, for God’s sake. If you can take a question from a snow man on the prospects for environmental legislation, you can suck it up and take a little ribbing about “Obama Girl.”

Barack Obama should be worried about other issues on the campaign trail. “Obama Girl” and other videos on the Web are supporting his campaign while being entertaining. Obama’s candidacy may be tripped up by an established senator ahead of him in the Democratic primaries, questions about his experience and the inevitable smear machine that comes with a two-party system. He will also deal with that insidious elephant in the room that is racism. Barack Obama has a lot of ridiculous obstacles to face in his race to the presidency without creating his own. The senator needs to relax because the people he is criticizing-namely, bloggers and activists-appreciate a little humor with their politics.

Yes, this is a post about Harry Potter. No, there are no spoilers in it.

The media craze surrounding this book is truly remarkable. I rarely stand in large lines for books. Movies? Sometimes. Concerts? Absolutely. An iPhone? Never. But a book?

Due to the immense popularity of the Harry Potter series in the last few years, the publicity and media have latched onto the fame of the young wizard. There are Harry Potter movies, glasses, toys, temporary tattoos, wands, and even philosophy books (no I’m not kidding). He’s a popular guy. ABC News last week even did a report from the city in which the books were supposedly being printed. It’s amazing that such an insignificant story could make the cut with everything that happened in our country last week; Harry Potter keeps people tuned into the news.

Overall, however, I enjoy seeing Harry Potter information in the news (as long as the New York Times isn’t ruining anything). To have the biggest celebrity craze of the weekend be over a book and not, say, Paris Hilton is a good thing. Harry Potter gets kids reading; there are precious few instances where young children ask their parents to go to the bookstore or library. So many valuable things come from this. Kids are excited to read; parents are excited to read to (and spend time with) their children; nerds get to hang out in bookstores until all hours of the night.

If we have to resign ourselves to the fact that celebrity news is always going to sell, we might as well be grateful that this celebrity actually has something to offer.

Harry Potter, Wizards, Deathly Hallows, Media, Celebrity, Spoilers