There's a story on the front page of CNN's website right now: British soldier killed in Iraq was close friend of prince.
And I wonder, is this what it takes to get us to care?
Never mind that an alarming number of Americans care more about Sanjaya winning American Idol than care about the war in Iraq.
Never mind that the war drums on Iran have been getting steadily louder this month (and thank goodness the British soldiers are back home, or we'd have a ready-made excuse for a special ops raid that could easily go awry).
Never mind that the Bush administration's response to claims that they were blindfolded and subjected to psyops has me thinking of 1984's memory hole. Abu Ghraib? Guantanamo? Never heard of 'em. Those mean Iranians ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Speaking of Iran, the same website has the recently released Iranian diplomat claiming that the CIA abducted and tortured him. Does anybody care?
Never mind that the only news I've seen about Afghanistan in a while was an op-ed in today's Times.
None of those things seem to matter.
Sweet merciful crap, is this what it takes to get people interested? Would CNN have even run a story about four British soldiers being killed if one of them hadn't known the prince? Would they run stories about American GI deaths if only they had already filled their daily quota of Anna Nicole Smith tripe?
Memo to CNN: Can we please return to a time when the news is actually about important daily events, and not a slightly higher-brow version of Access Hollywood?
I know, I know...I'm not holding my breath.
But maybe, just maybe, this is why more and more people are turning to sites like this and shows like The Daily Show to get their news. And maybe, just maybe, if you spent more time reporting on events that actually affect people's lives instead of titillating our interest in Scary Spice's baby daddy, we could return to the time when the news media was a trusted institution instead of one that is assailed from all sides for its lack of objectivity and relevance.
I'm just sayin'.