THIS JUST IN from investigative reporter Andy Borowitz:
Networks Criticized for Lack of Anna Nicole Smith Coverage
CNN: We Dropped the BallA media watchdog group today blasted the major news networks for failing to provide enough coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death in the 72 hours following the blonde bombshell’s passing.
The media watchdog group, which calls itself The Media Watchdog Group, took the nation’s 24-hour news networks to task for what it called “scant coverage� of the life, death and legacy of Ms. Smith.
At a press conference in Washington, Carol Foyler, a spokesperson for the group, hit hard at the all-news networks for giving the Anna Nicole Smith story “short shrift.�
“Instead of staying on the Anna Nicole Smith story nonstop, the networks would sometimes cut away to coverage of the war in Iraq for seconds at a time,� Ms. Foyler said. “For a nation struggling with its loss, this was like twisting the knife.�
At CNN headquarters in Atlanta, network president Jon Klein apologized for failing to provide seamless, wall-to-wall coverage of the Smith story, telling reporters, “We dropped the ball.�
“I was watching our coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death and without warning we cut away for an 8-second story on Darfur,� he said. “I can assure you that that sort of thing will never happen again – not on my watch.�
Mr. Klein added that for the foreseeable future, “at least 29 of the 30 video monitors on Wolf Blitzer’s ‘The Situation Room’ will feature Anna Nicole Smith, and the other will have that crazy astronaut chick.�
There’s more so read the whole thing.
You can read get Andy Borowitz’s other investigative reports here.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.