I’ve mentioned here that a substantial portion of our Fellowship comes from overseas — 1/3, if you’re keeping track. Yesterday I came across two of them in the F’ship house living room, watching CNN/Fox/MSNBC. Of course they were looking for news of the bombings in Istanbul. Of course they were getting helicopter shots of the back entrance of the Santa Barbara county courthouse.
“For two hours they’ve been there!” one exclaimed in exasperation and wonder. “Two hours!”
Yeah, well, wait for the trial.
UPDATE: Well, on the other hand, it’s not like there wasn’t news going on:
After his arrival in Nevada, his SUV was stalled in traffic and TV camera crews surrounded the vehicle. Jackson did not roll down the windows.
Later Jackson’s four-car entourage did a two-hour-plus circuitous crawl around Las Vegas, followed by media on the ground and in helicopters. In a scene reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson slow-motion Bronco chase, fans and onlookers pulled over to wave and, as the Jackson vehicle slowed, someone in the car reached out to shake fans’ hands. The singer apparently spent the night at the Green Valley Ranch hotel casino in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb.
The reporters and photographers who swarmed the sheriff’s complex in Santa Barbara were joined by gawkers. As Jackson emerged from the building, a middle-aged woman squealed to her friends, “I saw him! I saw him!” A college student, invoking Jackson’s famous 1980s dance move, held aloft a sign that read “moonwalk 2 jail.” Others snapped digital images of the pop star’s SUV with their cellular phones. There was also a Michael Jackson impersonator.
One TV cameraman suffered an apparent heart attack and was administered CPR at the scene. The cameraman, Bill Skiba, 43, of KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara, later died. Another photographer appeared to have been struck by a vehicle in Jackson’s convoy.
I mean, ask the dead photographer’s family.
ts said on November 21, 2003 at 12:31 pm
I’m amazed that the flippin’ New York Times gave two columns above the fold (on the left side) to the Michael Jackson “news” (to the extent it’s news that he’s a probable child molestor). A black eye for the newspaper biz.
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alex said on November 21, 2003 at 1:08 pm
A black eye for the newspaper business and dark days ahead for all. This’ll be O.J. Simpson on steroids. Finally the thin line between news and entertainment has completely vanished into thin air.
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Mindy said on November 21, 2003 at 2:25 pm
This is the kind of story that makes me glad my television is inconveniently located in the basement and that I’m out of the habit of watching it. Ugh.
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danno said on November 21, 2003 at 3:46 pm
And what bad timing! Not only do we get MJ from all sides, but those annoying X-mas commercials to fill the voids!!!
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Lex said on November 21, 2003 at 3:51 pm
I am a lousy excuse for a human being, because the second thought to go through my mind after feeling bad for the cameraman’s family was:
If, God forbid, I ever die on duty while on an assignment as insipid as the Michael Jackson beat, I want my family to pump six bullets into my corpse and dump it out of a stolen dark sedan outside some politico’s house with a notepad in one hand and then speed away, tires smokin’ and squealin’.
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Nance said on November 21, 2003 at 4:10 pm
Lex. Exactly. I mean, God must be a cold-hearted dude to kill someone under those circumstances. And he was only 43!
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Linda said on November 21, 2003 at 9:21 pm
I wanted to see the Bushes in London as well as all the protests, but could only find the Jackson story (on the a.m. TV shows). Thought Bush in London would be a BIG story, but apparently not so much. Back to NPR go I.
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ashley said on November 22, 2003 at 9:10 am
I’m stuck in CDG airport in Paris, and what do I get on the tube in the bar? Michael Fucking Jackson. Between this and Pepsi, it’s no wonder people hate Americans.
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Maureen McDaid said on November 23, 2003 at 7:41 pm
Please. Do the words Princess Di mean anything to any of you?
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Tracey said on March 9, 2004 at 7:36 pm
‘I mean, what about the dead photographer’s family?’ Well, I am the “dead photographer’s girlfriend.” I couldn’t give a rat’s you-know-what about MJ, but I loved/still love Bill very much. It’s been over three months, but the pain of losing such an awesome guy is still very much alive for me. Anyway, just wanted to let everybody know he was more than a cameraman; he was sweet, generous, adorable and my dream come true. Bill, I hope you can read this from Heaven.
Tracey
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