Michael Jackson Coverage

Media reaction of the death of Michael Jackson is still off the charts. Three days after his memorial service, CNN is still going full throttle with speculation on where Michael will be buried, who is going to get custody of his kids, which of the five doctors who treated him most recently is being investigated, and is MJ’s plastic surgeon the biological father of Michael Jackson’s kids? There are new developments surfacing every few minutes from the thousands of blogs that are generating their own spin.

One thing to watch for in all of this is the approach that traditional media is taking. Rather than relying on unconfirmed reports or out and out fabrications from the blogosphere, the traditional outlets are creating alliances with “credible” sources and becoming the filter for what is true and what is not. That might partly explain why CNN was the last TV news outlet to confirm Michael had died pretty well after everyone else where going on record confirming that he was in fact dead. Regardless, playing it safe (and smart) hasn’t hurt them in the ratings as the Nielson's show that CNN drew more listeners than MSNBC and Fox News combined for the memorial service.

What does all this mean for radio? Be prepared for more micro details on Michael Jackson's post-burial around the dial. Unfortunately over the years we in radio have taken the path of least resistance and have become more of a reflector of pop culture than a contributor to it. We have been encouraged to “talk about what people are talking about”, but more often than not we end up spoon feeding our listeners the same thing they heard the night before on television. This means that after your audience gets tired of the Michael Jackson coverage on TV,they can get tired of it all over again listening to your local morning show play audio clips from Larry King the night before. A new approach wouldn't hurt. Just sayin'.