Readers' comments on Anna Nicole Smith death

(originally posted Feb. 12, 2007)

This is the latest in a series of on-line comments about news coverage. I wrote a story last week that examined why the Anna Nicole Smith story received so much attention. Many readers felt compelled to pass along their own comments. I thought I would pass some of them along to you.
Miranda of Toledo believes that significant coverage of the model's death was unavoidable. She wrote that "truth is stranger than fiction  and it doesn't get much stranger than this. So should you give it top billing? Absolutely!! Anything less would just be a product of people not wanting to believe that we are what we have become. Why fight it? Face it folks  we are all obsessed. If you pretend you don't care about this story, you either live in a bubble or your nose is so high in the air that you can not see the TV."

Lisa agreed with Miranda. She added that "this was breaking news and I am one who has followed her through the ups & downs of her life. I'm not a person who watched her every move or her reality program but I am just a person with some interest in her affairs of life after her 2nd husband passed away and her battle to gain something from her marriage but lost to a greedy son as I saw it."

Anne from Montpelier added her two cents. She wrote that "she is/was an American icon. In years down the road, she will be looked at and thought of in nearly the same aspect as Marilyn Monroe! Regardless of what the important headlines were on Thursday, you and your stuff did a superb job in reporting what people want to hear!! Kuddo's to you and your staff!"

But, of course, not everyone agreed. Libby had enough of the story early and asked whether we "could&please leave coverage of this tragic loss of life to the entertainment sector? I didn't think an interview with an Anna Nicole look-alike was worth the time it took on the 6 o'clock news. How about giving that time to something that isn't going to be covered ad-nauseum everywhere else for the next several days?"

Fair enough. But it does demonstrate the difficulty we face. One viewer wants more of a particular story while another screams every time the same story is aired.

Now that the Anna Nicole Smith story is starting to fade, we'll be moving along to cover the incoming major winter storm. Of course, I fully expect to hear from some viewers that "it always snows in Ohio in the winter months. It's no big deal!" I hope that's the case! But based on the Storm Team predictions, I doubt it.