There's a good column I saw today over at Poynter.org, regarding Britney Spears' meltdown and the ongoing media blitz as she falls apart in prime time.
Roy Peter Clark weighs in after reading a Pulitzer finalist about mental illness and then takes a stab at breaking down how the whole situation got to this point.
And here, for journalists, is the crux of the problem: While we linger beyond imagination on the dissolution of one young celebrity, mental illness is an almost invisible story in the American news media. I came to this conclusion after reading the book, "Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness," a Pulitzer finalist. In it, Pete Earley, an experienced journalist, reveals the terrible truths that should be on the pages of America's newspapers every day: that we have not progressed as far as we think from Shakespeare's day when the mentally ill prisoners of Bedlam Hospital were put on display as public entertainment.
For me, it's become a love/hate relationship with the whole storyline. I'm OK living in a world without updates on what she's doing, but every piece of information that comes my way just makes me angrier and more frustrated that I get angrier and more frustrated.
It's a pretty nasty cycle.
When it comes to his idea that the media back away from the whole mess quietly, I think that's probably for the best. Maybe we can all get together in support groups to find new ways to spend 15 to 20 minutes each day.
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