How Michael Jackson impacts Sanford, and a lot of other things.

June 26, 12:46 PMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

It seems that Mark Sanford may be blessed afer all.  First Farrah Fawcett dies after a long battle with cancer which immediately took priority over his story in the news cycle.  Then a true bombshell is dropped when the news of Michael Jackson's death completly dominates new coverage and nearly brings down the entire internet.  If only the internet had gone completly down perhaps no one could read any more of the details of Sanford's story.  As it is he will have to settle for now becoming a background story in what otherwise is an all-Jackson all-the-time media as of now.

What is lost in all the coverage of scandals and celebrity deaths is the monumental legislation now being considered in Congress.  While the House of Representatives holds a moment of silence for Jackson's death very important bills are being debated such as the energy bill which would cap CO2 emissions and health care legislation which attempts to expand coverage for Americans.  While the Sanford, Jackson, and Fawcett stories do deserve appropriate coverage I am afraid that in all the coverage of their stories these very important issues will lose media attention and the momentum that goes along with that media awareness.  Jackson deserves to be properly memorialized by the media but how important will the story really be if New York is flooded by rising sea levels from global warming or (as viewed by the other side of the isle) Obama's energy plan destroys thousands of jobs by restricting industry.

So I laud the media to give the celebrity stories and political scandals their proper due, but also maintain your journalistic integrity by covering the issues which will matter much more in the long term.  After all, I am sure Sanford would care deeply about the government spending in the health care bill if he was not engrossed in scandal and Fawcett would surely want all Americans to have medical care for conditions such as the one she had.  So let us give those stories their proper due as well.