Montel Williams Speaks Out About Heath Ledger Coverage

Posted on January 29, 2008

One of the reasons I can’t stand watching FoxNews (we can go over all the other issues another time) is that they are ratings whores. I understand that the goal of TV networks is to get high(er) ratings for their programs, but damn.

Montel states he’s repulsed about the amount of coverage over Heath Ledger’s death versus the amount of coverage over the US casualties in Iraq over the last month. The anchors at FoxNews automatically go on the defensive about how it’s good for ratings, blah blah blah.

Eventually they seem to just write him off, throwing in a side note about the new book Montel wrote (which I’m sure was the main reason for Montel even being there not to discuss how tragic Heath’s death was).

Basically because Montel, at that moment, wasn’t good for ratings.

Comments

4 Responses to “Montel Williams Speaks Out About Heath Ledger Coverage”

  1. Marcus LANGFORD on January 29th, 2008 8:37 pm

    I feel what Montel is saying. The media does play too much on celebrity death [Anna Nicole Smith]. I mean, it is not like Ledger died in a accident that was caused by someone else or he was robbed and killed, he committed suicide. Why the media wants to glorify this mess or bring more attention to it, is beyond me. The flipside of that, is that I truly do not want to hear about what troops have died either. I mean, that is even more depressing, because the whole war is senseless.

  2. Tayo on January 30th, 2008 7:33 am

    Marcus, it’s a double edged sword. People (generally) feel like news stations shouldn’t be focusing so much attention on celebrities’ lives, yet whenever CNN (or whoever) runs a half hour special on Britney Spears, I’ll bet their ratings spike.

    I’m not sure I’d want to hear about every time a soldier died, but if we did focus on how many people are dying unnecessarily for this “war” on both sides, would it get people more riled up to speak out against it? Would our leaders maybe think twice about some of the things they do if we made as much of a fuss over it as we do over a celebrity scandal? (Far-fetched, I know, but…)

    Sorry for the looong rant…

  3. Xilla on January 31st, 2008 8:09 am

    Fixed News is the anti-christ i don’t watch them… or evne think to give any sort of validity to anything they say or do. I can always tell when i person watches that channel by the nonesense that comes fro mtherie mouth

  4. solomonsydelle on February 1st, 2008 10:07 am

    I notice that you stopped by my blog. Thanks much!

    I saw this on TV and must say that I completely understand where Montell is coming from. So many programs have pounced on heath Ledger’s passing and are turning it into a circus. Let the man rest in peace.

    And, yes, Montell is right (did I just say that?), we spend so much time fixated on celebrities and not on real everyday people who lose their lives in one way or another.

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