Look boss. The plane, the plane...

I sat in my room the other night, flipping through basic cable channels trying to find something interesting to watch. One Christian network was showing an infomercial from an organization called Feed The Children. Their mission is to help the poor and displaced with the necessities of life. The show depicted kids, living in filth, trying to survive day to day in the slums of an African city. There were crying babies with distended bellies, children mining garbage.

A few channels over was the news. Surely, they would be reporting on human suffering of this scale. The scene I witnessed was of a runway. A private jet sat in the darkness with its running lights on. The scene was repeated on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. It was a live shot. Martha Stewart was being released from prison, and each network was there, live, to cover the story. The commentators would go on about why Ms. Stewart was sent to jail, what the impact of her release would have on her company, and her new role as the star of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. Occasionally, the would remind the viewers just tuning in why they were watching a plane sitting in the dark.

It seems there is a hierarchy of news topics. War, politics, natural disaster are near the top of the list. "Celebrities in trouble" trumps them all. Just a few weeks ago the most devastating tsunami in memory took hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions. A week later, Brad and Jennifer's tragic break up was all anyone talked about. We have the Robert Blake trial, the 50 cent shooting and the Bill Cosby groping scandal. Of course the king of them all is the child molestation trial of the King of Pop.

Is it news? I like to think of the news as a public service that gives us information about important events. The information should be timely, accurate and relevant. I need to know when we are going to war. I need to know if there is a psycho killer in my area. I don't care who Ben and JLo are dating or who Britney's is marrying this week. When we cover celebrities, it waters down the news. If we want entertainment, we should turn to the E! channel where, by the way, they are airing a theatrical reenactment of the Michael Jackson Trial every night at 7:30 and 9:00 PM EST.