JoeyBahr.com

At this time 6:50 PM CDT, something important has happened.

That link leads to a page at the United States Geological Survey. About an hour prior to now, they recorded a magnitude 7.9 quake in Northern Chile. Let me repeat that, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake.

Granted that is not the 9.0 that shook South Asia on December 26, 2004, but it is not a quake to sneeze at either.

Yet, that is what the media is doing. Right now, only MSNBC has any mention of the quake. Fox News or CNN? Nope. Even the BBC’s website stands mute on this event.

What has them more captivated than a major earthquake?

Michael Jackson’s aquittal on all ten counts against him.

I will give them a little leeway on this as the quake happened only in the past hour and gathering solid details on it can be tricky right now. Still why not some sort of banner saying, “Major Quake Hits Chile, details to follow”?

How does this bode for our culture when the travails of one not as big as he used to be pop star can captivate the media while people suffer?

Don’t even get me started on this in respects to the War in Iraq or the genocide in Darfur in addition to all of the problems here at home with the economy and health care.

Right now if you look at the main page of MSNBC.com you see a link to the video of an “exclusive” interview with the mother of the Mississippi girl who went missing while on vacation on Aruba.

The problem is that this interview was not the first one by the mother. This weekend she appeared on Geraldo Rivera’s Fox News Channel show.

Now the NBC flacks will say that this interview was an exclusive morning show interview. So, technically it was an exclusive interview. Though this streches the limits of the definition of technically.

For quite a while now, the media has bantied about the word “Exclusive” on anything they can in the desperate attempt to get more eyeballs and ratings. Gone from the equation is the actual journalism and news collection. Now all that matters is the almighty demographic and the advertisers that covet their dollars.

And the talking heads of the media wonder why citizens don’t trust the fouth estate anymore?