I told you so

Satire is dead, says Village Voice columnist Sydney Schanberg:

Remember the Miami Herald stakeout in 1987 at Gary Hart's townhouse that revealed his marital infidelity and ousted him from the presidential race? That was a landmark in the press's slippery slide. News became more like a game. It was entertainment. Later, of course, we gave the world the Monica saga of sex in the White House. Michael Isikoff, co-author of the Newsweek article currently in dispute, was a major unearther of the lubricious details back then. In devoting such investigative energy and resources to a love-nest story, the press took resources away from matters that actually have a tangible effect on American lives.

The press's proprietors and editors (some of the latter, to their credit, winced as they participated) told us that this was the necessary path to the future if we were to survive financially. They said we had to enliven newspapers and news on television so we could capture those 18- to 49-year-olds and thus draw the big advertisers who yearned to sell them things. "Get jiggy with it!" they told the newsroom doubters.

Just this morning I had to turn off the radio in anger as I listened to a report that Bush had "welcomed to the White House" children who had been artificially inseminated. Why? Something to do with the stem cell controversy. And I cringe that I used the word "controversy" -- it's like saying evolution is still controversial. Sometimes this country really bums me.

Meanwhile, on the Paris Hilton hamburger ad beat, the CEO of Wendy's -- I mean, Carl's Jr. -- said he had screened the ad for his three children, ages 12, 9 and 7, "and they have shown no signs of being corrupted."

journalism, Sydney Schanberg, stem cell, insemination, Paris Hilton, Parish Hilton ad