How long will the media cover Ledger's passing?

[KcMsterpce]

I was just as surprised as tons of other people hearing of Ledger's death. He seemed to be a rather mature person who lived a private life as much as he could. Never heard about him downing a bottle of 151 and hitting the streets, or having a three-way with Paris Hilton and Gyllenhaal (Maggie, I mean).
It's very unfortunate.

Even MORE unfortunate is how the news is going to report this as if there's nothing else important going on in the world right now. I'm already starting to get tired of my CNN homepage, which is covering front page "Breaking News" with "Fans remember Ledger's Kindness".

I sure hope to God they will shut up about him real soon. He's dead, yes, but no sense in tarnishing his memory with non-news about an actor that has passed.

My sadness for his death is soon going to turn to bitterness just because I will be unable to avoid mind-numbingly repetitive reports such as "Ledger's shoes were blue at death."
I hope it doesn't turn out to be another Anna Nicole Smith scenario, in which you can't help but wish that she never died for the SOLE PURPOSE OF NOT HEARING ABOUT IT ANY MORE.

Of course I wish Ledger didn't die. I just would rather have my surprise and sadness not be tarnished by the news. The media is like a school of piranha unwilling to stop pecking at a molding brontosaurus carcass. Just get over it and move on, please.

[thedudeman69]

If they have respect for him and his family, then I hope they don't go Anna Nicole Smith on this because that would severly piss me off if The Media uses him to get ratings for their shows.

[Tweek]

I'm basically going to avoid news channels and read print or online news sources.

[NuclearMisfit]

They wont stop till all his dirty laundry is out in the open and he is portrayed as a drug addict lunatic then the so called experts will come and do interviews and soak up their 5 minutes of fame.

[Scarface98.9]

I really hope they don't dwell on this but I have a feeling it won't be nearly as protracted as the ANS deal was. Although Heath has a child, there aren't any huge stories they could get months of airtime about. He seemingly OD'd on sleeping pills (not intentionally it seems) because he had insomnia, whereas the Smith deal had the fraternity tests, the story about her depression in the last 6 months, the on-air slapfest between Howard Stern and the father, etc. This one doesn't seem to have as much dirty laundry to report. If he died because he fell down the stairs and broke his neck, they wouldn't give him much press I figure

[EVILxxx]

Proably until The Dark Knight comes out and then for a good while after.

[SkyNet]

whereas the Smith deal had the fraternity tests,


i of course mean no disrespect to Ledger or any one in this thread but:

Fraternity tests??!!!

It is possible that ANS baby daddy was in the Delta House!

i do believe you meant PATERNITY tests!


as for the news: Last night on my local news it was nothing more than just a lil "Actor Heath Ledger has passed away at the age of 28"

so i think in terms of Local news at least, the story has come and gone.

I doubt very much that this will be run into the ground, at least until there is a better autopsy report in a week and a half

[BakeTheMooCow]

It won't last long.

This weekend, they will go back to the Election '08 coverage.

10 days from now, they will give details of the toxicology report. If it shows some hard drugs in his body or something, they will flip their lids for a day or two. If it shows nothing, they will invite on some douchenozzle quack who will try to tie his role as the Joker to his death.

But it will be over soon. These spurts last literally until the next non-story. The news media has the attention span of Homer Simpson, so after a couple of weeks, they won't mention Heath Ledger ever again.

That's the way things work unless it's the gift that keeps on giving like Britney and Paris and Lindsey.

[Tagia_Romero]

"How long will the media cover Ledger's passing?"

Until every last smidge of percentage has been milked from it by the media and its' agents.

[MickeyKnox]

The media will stop reporting on this until they come back with the official autopsy, but i think even till then, they need to stop dwelling on it, out of respect for his family and friends. But watch as soon as Brittany Spears does something out of the ordinary, they'll go right to that.

[bigred760]

They continue to cover the death until the cause of death is discovered. It'll probably die down after that until the release of The Dark Knight where everybody and their mother will be reminded that Heath Ledger died in January.

[The Postmaster General]

I posted this in the other thread, but it might be more relevant here:

I've been pimping Minnesota Public Radio - The Current a lot of these boards because they play the best music I've ever heard on a radio station.

Today, I have to recommend them again.

They brought up Ledger and started talking about how the media is getting all the facts wrong by way of trying to get the story first. They brought up the Mary-Kate report, as well as all the things we had to wrench through in this thread to get the final story.

In conclusion, one host just says (paraphrased), "I don't get it. Actor, Heath Ledger is dead. More details as they become available. Period. What's so hard about that? Why can't they respect this guy by, I don't know, at least only reporting facts. They are going from reporting news, to just giving sound bites as filler for commercial breaks."


I can't recommend this station enough. You can stream their broadcasts and see their daily playlists here - http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/songs_played/

[bigred760]

They brought up Ledger and started talking about how the media is getting all the facts wrong by way of trying to get the story first. They brought up the Mary-Kate report, as well as all the things we had to wrench through in this thread to get the final story.


It's speculation like this that makes me ashamed to work for the news. I'm proud enough not to work in editorial (producers and writers), but in production. But still, I have to watch and groan at all the speculation like "Were Ledger and and Mary Kate Olsen having an affair?" It made me laugh out loud at how stupid we looked after finding out that the two each had an apartment in the same building. :rolleyes: **sigh** And people wonder why I have little to no faith in humanity.

[The Postmaster General]

The thing about it too, is that I think by not misinforming, they could build a lot more suspense.

You know, give real info, then cut to something else, come back, update, go back --- I don't get this fascination with making it into nonstop coverage.

It's almost like if every character Luke meets in Star Wars, he starts asking, "I wonder if this person is related to me?"

By the time you get to Empire and Jedi, the reveals would not have much meaning anymore, and you'd probably care less at that point.

[bigred760]

"Daily Show with Jon Stewart" covered this topic some months ago.

Went something like: All news networks have to do is ask a question, they don't need hard facts, but just asking a question on a news topic and they're in the clear and can cover a news story for hours . . . it's not "Tom Cruise is gay.", it's "Tom Cruise is gay?".

It is kind of pathetic how true that is.

[The Postmaster General]

Being in the biz, you might be able to answer: Would this be a producer issue? I mean, who decides to run stories nonstop like that?

[bigred760]

Being in the biz, you might be able to answer: Would this be a producer issue? I mean, who decides to run stories nonstop like that?

For the most part. Show producers answer to executive or supervisor producers who "suggest" that they keep going with a particular breaking story: famous death, terrorist attack, a car chase, whatever. Depending on how the story unfolds and what they can get out of it, they keep going until the producer or exec. prod. says "that's enough." I work at more than one news network, and both cover different things different ways, but for the most part, that's how it's done.

[Digifruitella]

I hope they don't turn this into a circus like they did with ANS.

[The Postmaster General]

For the most part. Show producers answer to executive or supervisor producers who "suggest" that they keep going with a particular breaking story: famous death, terrorist attack, a car chase, whatever. Depending on how the story unfolds and what they can get out of it, they keep going until the producer or exec. prod. says "that's enough." I work at more than one news network, and both cover different things different ways, but for the most part, that's how it's done.



Yeah, I figured it was on a producers end. They usually have a lot more say in the direct content than a director would with a movie. I didn't know if it played out the same with news shows though. I was going nuts prior to the Miami Vice movie with people on the IMDb saying how Mann *only* exec. produced the show, and only directed and wrote a few eps. :mad:

[bigred760]

It's speculation like this that makes me ashamed to work for the news. I'm proud enough not to work in editorial (producers and writers), but in production. But still, I have to watch and groan at all the speculation like "Were Ledger and and Mary Kate Olsen having an affair?" It made me laugh out loud at how stupid we looked after finding out that the two each had an apartment in the same building. :rolleyes: **sigh** And people wonder why I have little to no faith in humanity.

There's a segment on CNN's "Reliable Sources" (again, sorry to plug the network, but I have to watch it and programming sometimes surprises me) talking about the shameless and fact-less reporting on the Heath Ledger death (from CNN and other networks). I'm enjoying watching a commentator bash the media crap that followed Ledger's death.

[JJFlamingo]

As long as there's ratings to be had, this will be a hot story...

[hoojib127]

If they have respect for him and his family, then I hope they don't go Anna Nicole Smith on this because that would severly piss me off if The Media uses him to get ratings for their shows.

Considering how long they covered the death of a 'celebrity' whose only discernable talent was taking off her clothes, I'd say the media owes a guy who had genuine gifts at least TWICE the coverage. You can always not watch it.