America's Love Affair with Michael Jackson: The Mainstream Media Gets It Wrong (Again)
Posted Jul 07, 2009 10:31am EDT by Peter Gorenstein in Internet, Media, Newsmakers
Related: twx, cbs, nws, yhoo, aapl, ge, dis
The media frenzy surrounding the death of Michael Jackson reaches a crescendo today in Los Angeles. Thousands are on hand at the Staples Center the Memorial Service but millions are watching on TV, in movie theaters and, maybe most fittingly, online.
The King of Pop's death is another example of the growing dominance of new online media and increasing irrelevance of old traditional media, says Michael Wolff founder of Newser.com and Vanity Fair columnist. Based on the traditional media's coverage prior to his death, "what you would have inferred is that no one liked MJ, everybody thought he was a complete weirdo that he was written-off marginalized, absolutely forgotten," Wolff says. When in fact, the opposite is true.
"The takeaway from the Michael Jackson story is how dramatically and profoundly wrong the media got this story," he says. "People didn't hate Michael Jackson, they loved him!"
This is just the latest in a long line of media miscues, according to Wolff. "The old media has consistently, time and time and time and time again, gotten the story wrong."
Wolff’s views may be extreme, but the response to Jackson’s death has demonstrated again the power of online media and social networking:
* TMZ.com broke the news of Jackson's death at least a half hour before other news organizations were able to confirm details. And now they’re reaping the benefits. TMZ attracted nearly 8 million visitors last week – a 70% year-over-year spike in traffic, according to comScore.
* From Twitter to Facebook, the public has used social networks to shower the MJ with love and affection. Michael Jackson's Facebook page has overtaken President Obama's as the most popular on the site.
* Roughly 1.6 million people applied for memorial tickets online. That's amounts to thirteen requests per second.
Simply put, online news is "faster... it’s a better news experience," says Wolff. |
