Arrianna nails it on the media.

[kentuck]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/will-the-karr-debacle-lea_b_28278.html

<snip>
Channel-surfing last night's wall-to-wall TV coverage of the decision to drop all charges against John Mark Karr was like walking through the halls of a drug rehab center -- everywhere you looked, you saw addicts unable to break their addiction.

All in the MSM -- well, all except Nancy Grace -- know how sick they are for continuing to talk and talk and talk and talk about this case.
But they just can't help themselves. They know they shouldn't do another eight ball -- they know, after all, this guy is not the killer -- yet they go on and on and on.

The sad thing is, they can't even enjoy the cheap buzz of dishing out the titillating trash -- you can see the embarrassment on their faces as they reach for the ersatz-breaking-news bottle. As I wrote about scandal-addicted newshounds during the Robert Blake bacchanal: "They're like Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in the last reel of Days of Wine and Roses. They're no longer drinking to get high; they're just hoping to avoid delirium tremens -- which in TV-land translates to 'big time ratings slump.' You know, just a little pick-me-up to 'take the edge off.'

But the 12-day Karr bender is worse than any of its lampshade-on-the-head predecessors. Worse than OJ, worse than Robert Blake. At least those media circus clowns were connected in some way (wink, wink) to the crimes in question. Karr is nothing but a disturbed wannabe -- the walking, talking embodiment of a non-story (or, perhaps, a minor mention buried deep inside the pages of the Rocky Mountain News). Instead, the media tumbled down the 12 steps and embarked on a frantic binge that saw countless articles and hours of airtime devoted to the minutest details of the life, times, and airplane menu of a pathetic murderer manqué (Fried king prawns and roast duck --

...more

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. One of the problems is...

That the day of the Newsperson with Gravitas and influence seems to have left on the same flight as Dan Rather. Now, the news is in the complete control of Vice Presidents of the corporations and young producers raised on People Magazine and The NY Post. They, being good little ambitious whores, take their cues from power, and the power is on the right at this time. So they genuflect and provide the stories and the distractions that power proclaims and provides.

And the substance abise metaphor could not be more apt.

After all, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping the outcome will change. They are doing a wheels-up landing and refuse to recognize it.

[acmavm]

3. The media today are nothing more than live real-time

National Equirers and all those other cheap tabloid bullshit rags.

I'm waiting anyday for some newscaster to announce "Woman has UFO love child, story after this commercial".

[blm]

4. They didn't buy up control of broadcast and print media in the 80s and 90s

for nothing.

They NEEDED to control the newsmedia to get as far as they have. No more Vietnam, No more Watergate, No more IranContra investigations for BushInc.

Gaining control of the voting machine companies was icing on the cake.

[Dr.Phool]

2. I was sitting in the airport yesterday morning

As the prosecutor was giving her news conference.

Right in the middle, someone pulled the fire alarm. LOL

If she was smart, she would have evacuated the building for about a week.