Word: jacksonism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Jackson was the most famous entertainer on earth; his sudden death was real news, huge news. His memorial 12 days later was a mammoth, global event. It was during the in-between, as it always is, that the coverage went into high-speed idling mode. For a good week, there was little news - about his estate, the toxicology tests, his final moments - so the talk became about how little news there was. There were the prime-time specials, the morning-show reports, the commentators and endless clichés. (He was a barrier breaker, a chameleon, a Peter...
Given the big ratings, clearly not everyone thinks the coverage is too much. The traffic on Twitter showed that the public was generating its own Jackson media. That's the easy media defense: People want it! To paraphrase Michael, we can't stop 'til you get enough. (See 5 media myths that Jackson's death debunked...
...Jackson's farewell service was, in a sense, a rerun. For days, TV had been cycling the same clips, remembering the same songs; some speakers had been on TV sharing the same thoughts. Yet hearing brother Jermaine deliver "Smile," Michael's favorite song, to a crowd whose hearts were breaking had an entirely different effect than Jermaine's singing it to Matt Lauer. Hearing Gordy recall Michael's childhood audition was more moving than the dozens of bio reels that had sought the same response...
...news is a poor vehicle for catharsis; it thrives on maintaining tension, not relieving it. And a memorial is a poor medium for objective assessment, which we needed after Jackson's death, and will need if and when there is more news in its aftermath. But in a perfect world, it would provide the media with an end point, a reason to pause and move...
...pictures of the Jackson family reunion...