Elvis is Dead. So What.
With American television and print media tripping over themselves this week publicizing the 25th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's death with front page headlines and live remotes from Graceland, leave it to Howard Kurtz of CNN to put an honest perspective on all the feel good nostalgia.
According to Kurtz on Saturday's "Reliable Sources," guess how many major news networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) lead their newscasts with Elvis's death on that day in 1977?
All three?
The answer is none. That's right - none.
Elvis' death wasn't featured until at least 3 or more stories into each network's newscast.
Fast forward to 2002 - is there any question how the networks would handle the sudden death of a major pop or rock star, say Britney Spears or Madonna? With the endless parade of Elvis retrospectives airing this week, few would believe the very same media pushed the King's death below the fold in 1977. But they did. So what, indeed.
Comments
I might have made note of the media hoopla that followed Aaliyah's sudden death. =P
Posted by: kerr at August 17, 2002 8:53 PM
Yeah yeah, Elvis is _still_ dead.
Posted by: tomas at August 18, 2002 6:51 AM
t,
i think it's because that's what's considered news now. i think our definition of news has changed from events happening that have impact on our lives to candyfloss newscasts about madonna's new baby and elivs.
a leading story on a radio here that day was that the number of elvis impersonators is at ~7000 people, up from ~300 a long time ago.
that's news?
-mathew
Posted by: mathew at August 18, 2002 9:28 AM
We can do the ennuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry
-Don Henley, "Dirty Laundry"
Posted by: Bob at August 18, 2002 1:09 PM
so what if britiny spears died? no one likes her. she sucks. she's just a singer with fake tits... haha.
anyway, they talk about it now because they know everyone else is. if everyone else wern't, they would forget about it, or at least that's my view.
it might be fun to interview someone at say CBS, and ask them about the Elvis news, about how it was 25 years ago, compared today.
Posted by: Scott Allison at August 18, 2002 3:31 PM
scott: if britney has fake tits she sure didn't get her money worth since they look just like regular tits.
but i'm sure that assertion of yours is well investigated and most certainly the truth.
Posted by: tomas at August 18, 2002 5:15 PM
haha. okay, sorry. It's just they look sorta fake to me...
Posted by: Scott Allison at August 19, 2002 9:47 AM
i agree that media blows a lot of things out of proportion, but i wouldn't go so far as to say 'so, what.' i mean, we don't need multiple hour news coverage, but it's still a person dying. the popularity part just makes it *a* person dying that everyone knows. i think the error lies in all of a sudden making their death *more* important than Ms. O'Nobody, the grandmother of 7, who volunteered every day of her life until she died.
Posted by: nick at August 19, 2002 1:28 PM
scott: they look just like any tits on a slim twenty-or-something years old girl. i'm not sure how "regular" tits look like in the US, but they look just about like normal fine swedish tits to me.
...enough with the tits-talk, right?
Posted by: tomas at August 19, 2002 3:37 PM
I vaguely remember that when John Lennon was assassinated at least one network had a live remote.
Dread Zeppelin were probably better than a lot of Elvis' stuff. :)
Posted by: michael at August 20, 2002 1:33 PM
lol. yeah.. forget I said anything
Posted by: Scott Allison at August 21, 2002 4:39 PM
"It's me, baby. I'm not dead like they said I was. I'm workin' at a McDonald's in Kalamazoo, Michigan(*does the splits)...I'm still the King...gotta go."
Posted by: elvis at August 27, 2002 6:37 PM
Feel free to participate in my poll about whether or not Elvis faked his death
Posted by: Fred Gray at November 23, 2002 10:21 AM
