I thought this was worthy of passing on it came from a friend of my wife. to
often this stuff happens
denis levitre, SNED
<< A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
The U.S. Navy dumped John F. Kennedy Jr.'s ashes into the sea,
ending-we hope-the shameless media glut over the private plane
crash that killed him, his wife and his sister-in-law. Maybe now
we can get back to some real news.
Two US soldiers died in Kosovo last Sunday. You may have
missed that because Tom and Dan and Peter and
God-knows-who-else were too busy gushing over the
Kennedys. The soldiers died when their armored personnel
carrier overturned. They weren't celebrities at the wheel of their
own airplane, heading for a weekend jaunt and a family wedding.
They were just two ordinary grunts, serving their country.
Dan Rather didn't hop the next plane to Kosovo to talk about
how their families felt about losing loved ones. He was too
busy talking about John-John. Tom Brokaw didn't call their
deaths "an American tragedy."
Nah. A dilettante dies and it's a tragedy. Two soldiers die
and it's back page news. Katie Couric didn't put on her
best phony look of concern and devote her time on the
Today Show to talk about two American patriots who died
while working a thankless job in a foreign land. She couldn't
stop interviewing an endless collections of has-beens whose
only claim to fame was that they went to school with,
worked with or once said hello to John Kennedy, Jr.
The media didn't just lose perspective this past week. They
slaughtered it. Many compare the media overkill on JFK Jr.
to the orgy of coverage devoted to Princess Diana's death.
The Kennedy overkill was worse. A Nexis search on the
first six days of Diana's death shows 17,913 stories worldwide.
The first six days of JFK Jr.'s death generated 18,227 stories.
At least the Kennedys didn't ask Elton John to join them on
the Navy ship to sing Candle in the Wind.
The Washington Post devoted more than 2,000 column inches
of coverage to JFK Jr.'s death since last Saturday. They used
one wire story about the soldiers' death in Kosovo. Other
newspapers ran countless stories about both the Kennedy
and Bessette families.
Those same papers didn't even run the names of the two soldiers
in Kosovo, much less tell us anything about their families. For the
record, the soldiers who died while serving their country are
Spec. Sherwood B. Brim, 30, of Dallas, and Sgt. William W. Wright,
27, of Clear Lake, Calif.
Their bodies were flown home earlier this week to be buried with
full military honors. They were the fourth and fifth American
casualties of the war in Kosovo.
>>
>>
In a message dated 8/22/1999 10:12:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time, PBaganski
writes:
<<
A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
Sad but true.
I thought this was worthy of passing on.
The U.S. Navy dumped John F. Kennedy Jr.'s ashes into the sea,
ending-we hope-the shameless media glut over the private plane
crash that killed him, his wife and his sister-in-law. Maybe now
we can get back to some real news.
Two US soldiers died in Kosovo last Sunday. You may have
missed that because Tom and Dan and Peter and
God-knows-who-else were too busy gushing over the
Kennedys. The soldiers died when their armored personnel
carrier overturned. They weren't celebrities at the wheel of their
own airplane, heading for a weekend jaunt and a family wedding.
They were just two ordinary grunts, serving their country.
Dan Rather didn't hop the next plane to Kosovo to talk about
how their families felt about losing loved ones. He was too
busy talking about John-John. Tom Brokaw didn't call their
deaths "an American tragedy."
Nah. A dilettante dies and it's a tragedy. Two soldiers die
and it's back page news. Katie Couric didn't put on her
best phony look of concern and devote her time on the
Today Show to talk about two American patriots who died
while working a thankless job in a foreign land. She couldn't
stop interviewing an endless collections of has-beens whose
only claim to fame was that they went to school with,
worked with or once said hello to John Kennedy, Jr.
The media didn't just lose perspective this past week. They
slaughtered it. Many compare the media overkill on JFK Jr.
to the orgy of coverage devoted to Princess Diana's death.
The Kennedy overkill was worse. A Nexis search on the
first six days of Diana's death shows 17,913 stories worldwide.
The first six days of JFK Jr.'s death generated 18,227 stories.
At least the Kennedys didn't ask Elton John to join them on
the Navy ship to sing Candle in the Wind.
The Washington Post devoted more than 2,000 column inches
of coverage to JFK Jr.'s death since last Saturday. They used
one wire story about the soldiers' death in Kosovo. Other
newspapers ran countless stories about both the Kennedy
and Bessette families.
Those same papers didn't even run the names of the two soldiers
in Kosovo, much less tell us anything about their families. For the
record, the soldiers who died while serving their country are
Spec. Sherwood B. Brim, 30, of Dallas, and Sgt. William W. Wright,
27, of Clear Lake, Calif.
Their bodies were flown home earlier this week to be buried with
full military honors. They were the fourth and fifth American
casualties of the war in Kosovo.
>>
