Maybe now it is news -- I was just sitting down to write my inaugural blog entry for when the news hit. My plan had been to talk wistfully about what I call "The Paris Pledge." It was a pie-in-the-sky idea of mine that all of us in the media business would place our rights hands on the Nielsen Bible and pledge NOT to cover any comings and goings of Paris Hilton.
(To the list one might also consider adding such 'luminaries' of the night scene as Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Nicole Richie and others less front page/section A material to mention.) To such party princesses, publicity is oxygen and perhaps, I fantasized, if we deprived them of a few column inches and a couple of minutes of TV time -- they might-- just MIGHT-- suffocate a bit and slink back into whatever alcohol-soaked VIP section from which they came. I said it was pie-in-the-sky.
I, as well as anyone, know the party princesses are 'crack' to which we in the syndicated magazine world had become addicted. "We" may think the Paris/Lindsay/Britney story beneath us and hold our nose as we broadcast it -- but we know if we don't do the story, our competitors will -- and the viewers will lunge for the television remote to change to THEIR channel. So we show the princess preening for the cameras .
..and feel uneasy for having broadcast it.
With Paris in jail, I thought, 'We don't have to do a Hilton story!'. And thanks to a cosmic alignment of the paparazzi stars, Lindsay Lohan was in rehab and out of the limelight too.
An informal poll of my friends both in syndication and at the network level revealed they shared my queasiness at these kinds of stories. One likened the feeling after putting the party princesses on the air to that horrible feeling one has after doing more than just kissing on a first date: you feel just awful about yourself but the dirty deed is done. With more than a touch of Pollyanna, I mused, "Perhaps since we in the media created this Paris phenomenon .
.. we could also make it go away.
" At the very least, my plan with this column was to give a second variation of the "Paris Pledge:". If TV shows can't promise NOT to air vapid stories about Paris/Lindsay/Britney, then let us pledge that for every "party princess" story we air, we ALSO find time for a piece about a young person who's doing the RIGHT things. Have you heard about 18-year-old Henry Schwartz of Menomonie, Wisconsin?
He started a skateboard business when he was 15 and turned a profit his first summer in business. Or what about Michael Holeman from Gainesville, Georgia? He’s the youth president for a group called Straight Teen which gives kids an alternative to hanging out on the streets.
Michael’s given more than 1100 hours in community service. Henry and Michael – now THEY are role models to believe in. But that was before Thursday's headline.
Hilton was released from jail, remanded to house arrest at her Hollywood Hills home. Whether it was a rash, a near breakdown or some other medical condition was uncertain. What WAS immediately clear was that the rules for the rest of the world don't apply to Ms.
News RSS