No news is good news

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Amanda J. Feuerman

Oh, and did I mention his profound need to "get some"?!

The media has spent countless weeks harping on the Clinton/Lewinsky Soap Opera as if suddenly, all that Clinton has done for our country pales in comparison to what was done to him by the now infamous Miss Lewinsky.

So has anyone besides me had enough of it? Is anyone else as sick as I am of hearing about the stains on her clothes, the guilt on his head, the possibility of impeachment?

Do not fret, though. If you ARE sick of hearing about the scandalous Clinton administration, change the channel. With any luck, there will be a story about O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, or Princess Diana.

On December 27, 1996, a Colorado headline read "Boulder girl, 6, found slain." The 1995 Little Miss Colorado, JonBenet Ramsey was found with no more evidence than her battered little body and an unanswered ransom note.

Ladies and gentlemen, this saga began in 1996, and coming up on the 2-year anniversary of her death, JonBenet Ramsey is a household name. At a time when elsewhere in this world there is civil war, hunger, discrimination are prevalent, many U.S. citizens would rather read about who might have done it in The Globe.

Or if people are not reading about the Ramsey incidents, perhaps they are catching up on the O.J. Simpson epic.

In my high school, classes stopped so those of us who had brought portable televisions could flip them on to catch the Simpson trial verdict. It was closer to home for some, as Ron Goldman was a local - someone a lot of my friends knew. I watched friends comfort each other as some broke down crying at the utterance of each "not guilty."

And almost four years later, O.J. is still in the news. Dozens of novels, a TV movie, and hundreds of TV news specials later, the media still concerns themselves with Mr. Simpson. At first it was the issue of abuse, his conflicts with Nicole Brown's family. And the outrage of the Goldman family.

Soon the country focused on the civil trial, which produced, in my opinion, a more favorable verdict. And when the trials were over and news anchors could no longer think up angles to cover the story, the petty things were suddenly newsworthy. Could someone explain to me why his golfing game is news?

Perhaps if you can't explain that to me, maybe you could help me understand the biggest media tragedy to date: the death of Princess Diana. Over a year later, the story is still popular with the media. And if not her, perhaps you've seen her 16-year-old son, William, on the cover of some magazine.

Diana's death was indeed a tragedy, but it was also a landmark in the media timeline. The story flooded the airwaves, prioritized above all else. The recent murder of Gianni Versace was quickly forgotten and the passing of Mother Teresa was briefly touched upon by the news.

I think the members of the media need to sit down and set some boundaries, not to mention priorities. When is the story too much? At what point is news old news? As the hub of communication everywhere, media types have a responsibility to the people to let them know what is going on around the world. What kind of example are we setting when O.J. Simpson's golf game is more important than the actual loss of two human lives? What kind of lesson are we teaching young viewers when the very media that pushed Princess Diana closer to death's hands is hovering over her offspring like prey?

The solution is simple though not quite adequate. If you don't like the story, change the channel, or, better yet, turn the TV off. True, you may not hear the latest in the news, but is the media even covering that story anyway? Or maybe I've got it all wrong, maybe a 4-year obsession with O.J. Simpson or a fascination with Bill Clinton's sexual escapades is healthy. Maybe I'm the one who isn't prioritizing....

Maybe, but I doubt it.

Amanda Feuerman is an undeclared sophomore and can be reached at Amanda.Feuerman@wildcat.arizona.edu. Her column, Swimming with Sharks, appears every Monday.