Media coverage of Charlie Sheen

[Dick Whitman]

Poynter piece starts off slow, with some stuff about whether the media should get Charlie Sheen help rather than giving him an audience.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/121173/media-acting-as-enablers-with-excessive-coverage-of-two-and-a-half-men-star-charlie-sheen/

But it really gets going when it starts addressing the culture of news providers and consumers, in general, when it comes to what drives ratings, readers, etc., etc.:

A sampling:

* “If there’s anything that symbolizes the bankruptcy of TV news today, it’s the focus on Charlie Sheen.”

* “It’s a great story,” (Today Show executive producer Jim Bell) said. “We don’t have this much interest when we have a big interview on Libya or a powerful, smart series on the brain.”

* A Project for Excellence in Journalism content analysis of 50,000+ stories in 2010 showed that entertainment coverage makes up a small fraction of overall media coverage (0.4 percent). ... Newspapers devote the smallest amount of space to entertainment news

 

[PCLoadLetter]

That's nice.

If I ever want to commit professional suicide and destroy my ratings, I'll start following Poynter's advice.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

That's nice.

If I ever want to commit professional suicide and destroy my ratings, I'll start following Poynter's advice.

This is why I can't wait for Poynter to start shredding ESPN.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Things haven't changed much. When Lucille Ball had a baby when "I Love Lucy" was big, that was a big national story in all the media, too. That was almost 60 years ago. I believe that stories of wild sexual conduct and/or substance abuse by Hollywood stars was major news back before television was invented.

 

[J-School Blue]

It does feel like watching someone have a mental breakdown in front of whatever camera he can find. I admit the trainwreck element is what's making me turn my head to watch.

I do think the old addage that if people weren't watching, this stuff would go away, is very much true. Apparently Sheen got a Twitter account yesterday and now has 600,000+ followers who tuned in to watch him be crazy.

We have f'd up priorities as a society. TV reflects that.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Shows you how in touch I am: I didn't know he was giving interviews until yesterday, let alone multiple, non-stop interviews. I had some vague idea that "Two and a Half Men" was in trouble because Charlie Sheen got in trouble on Christmas for drugs, prostitutes, or both. But the rest of it I had no clue about. None.

 

[JackReacher]

Shows you how in touch I am: I didn't know he was giving interviews until yesterday, let alone multiple, non-stop interviews. I had some vague idea that "Two and a Half Men" was in trouble because Charlie Sheen got in trouble on Christmas for drugs, prostitutes, or both. But the rest of it I had no clue about. None.

You lead an interesting life, ****.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Shows you how in touch I am: I didn't know he was giving interviews until yesterday, let alone multiple, non-stop interviews. I had some vague idea that "Two and a Half Men" was in trouble because Charlie Sheen got in trouble on Christmas for drugs, prostitutes, or both. But the rest of it I had no clue about. None.

You lead an interesting life, ****.

What do you mean?

Oh, and: Not really.

 

[JackReacher]

I mean just what I said. You lead an interesting life.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

He lives an interesting life in a cave.

 

[JackReacher]

Now, now.

I'm sure **** has more important stuff to do besides keeping track of Charlie Sheen and his goddesses. What that could be, I have no idea. But I'm sure something more important than Charlie Sheen exists.

Holler if you find it.

:)

 

[Dick Whitman]

He lives an interesting life in a cave.

Also known as: Father of young children.

Truthfully, I get almost all of my news from mainstream newspapers and news magazines. Which, according to the Poynter story, devote 0.4 percent of their coverage to entertainment news.

Celebrity gossip is just not something that enters my orbit.

 

[J-School Blue]

This makes a good point which I really do believe. As much hand-wringing as there is about "the media" devoting all its time to celebrity stories, it's really only certain sectors of "the media" that focus on this stuff. It's also a sector that makes money, attracts eyeballs and ratings, moves rack sales, what have you. This stuff doesn't exist because nobody's buying it.

One thing the Internet does very well is make news far more self-selecting, and people self-select a lot garbage. There is a wealth of information available for folks to educate themselves and they now more than ever willfully choose not to.

 

[MartinonMTV2]

Disagree on some thoughts here. The stuff exists because Sheen is making an ass of himself daily. If he were to STFU tomorrow, he'd drop off the radar until CBS makes a decision about his employment.

The people following him on Twitter might be amused now, but they'll get bored and move on to the next loudmouth.

 

[clutchcargo]

Only thing at work here is that Charlie Sheen craves attention, and he's getting it on a silver platter. It's a win-win for Sheen and the media lapping it up.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

But is it news that some Hollywood jackass is craving attention? People say stupid stuff all the time, but nothing he's said is newsworthy, except for amateur psychologists and people who think it's cool to live with a pornstar.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

I think there's a story here but not the story that should be told. How fit is this guy to be around children, even his own? Pattern of drug use (notwithstanding the supposedly clean test). History of threats, possibly violence. How does he have any access to kids at all? And what are the families of the "princesses" thinking about their arrangement/well-being? I guess if your daughter is a porn star you grow a thick skin but sheesh.

YHS, etc

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Sirs, Madames,

I think there's a story here but not the story that should be told. How fit is this guy to be around children, even his own? Pattern of drug use (notwithstanding the supposedly clean test). History of threats, possibly violence. How does he have any access to kids at all? And what are the families of the "princesses" thinking about their arrangement/well-being? I guess if your daughter is a porn star you grow a thick skin but sheesh.

YHS, etc

People magazine does, in fact, have a story online with the mother of Bree Olson, expressing her concern over the arrangement.

Admittedly, I kind of laughed at the notion that the star of "Big Tit Brotha Lovers 10" and "Tinker With My Stinker" was suddenly at risk because she shacked up with a sitcom star who may have a drug problem.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

I guess I'm not getting the whole laughalot factor in addiction and mental disease. People on Facebook seem to think this is the funniest thing since Groucho. At least when Mel Gibson freaked, there might have been a captive audience but there wasn't a sense it was being choreographed and milked from a fat teat. Maybe at some point when the cameras stop rolling and people begin to set this aside, and it's no longer so riotously funny, he's going to have a reflective moment and ask what the **** is happening to himself.

 

[HC]

Tweet of the Day (from Andy Borowitz): Charlie Sheen - Money = Guy Barking on Street Corner