Cable news networks sink to new depths

You can, quite obviously, argue both sides of the assertions of Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., that Michael Jackson was "a pervert, a child molester and a pedophile." Although to pretend that there aren't a lot of people out there who agree with King would be naive.

But it would be difficult to argue with King's argument — posted in a video clip on YouTube — that media coverage of Jackson's death has been excessive. Or that much of it has indeed been "glorifying" the entertainer.

Has the coverage been excessive? Certainly. The 24-hour news channels came close to becoming 24-hour Michael Jackson-is-dead channels.

As is so often the case, with nothing new to report, CNN, FNC and MSNBC just kept repeating the same "news" over and over again.

As the days passed and the coverage didn't diminish, I couldn't help but puckishly ask people if they could check the TV to see if Michael Jackson was still dead.

My current-events obsessed teenagers, who spend more time watching the 24-hour news channels than I do, stopped watching for several days because they were so sick of hearing about Jackson.

It is, no doubt, a generational thing to some extent. To them, Jackson was a has-been whose biggest success came years before they were born.

I was about their age when Elvis Presley died, and (at the time) knew him only as a has-been who made bad movies. And, even though that was years before the advent of 24-hour cable news networks, I remember thinking the media coverage was excessive.

And it's not just the congressman who thinks that television journalism has become an oxymoron.

"Daily Show" host Jon Stewart dubbed the coverage of Jackson's death "obitu-tainment" — and he was absolutely right. It was just the latest and greatest example of how television news has become all "Entertainment Tonight," all the time.

Last week on his Comedy Central show, Stewart embarrassed TV "news" people over and over again, simply by showing clips of their coverage. It culminated with a clip of "Good Morning America" in which Robin Roberts promised viewers "the first video of the room where Michael Jackson went into cardiac arrest."

"After that, we'll have an exclusive look at the room where news also died," Stewart said. "Unfortunately, it's the same room."

Well, TV news died long before Jackson did.

As with all things television, however, the fault lies not just with the cable news networks but with ourselves. If American viewers weren't watching the Jackson coverage, it wouldn't be as excessive as it is.