Media Needs to Move Beyond Anna Nicole Smith

For weeks, headlines have screamed the very latest nuance of the Anna Nicole Smith story.

"Another Chapter Closes Friday In Anna Nicole Smith Saga"

"Anna Nicole Smith To Be Buried ..."

"Anna Nicole Smith Pink Funeral -- A 'Larger Than Life' Funeral..."

Even Hollywood gets attention with actors taking stands. "Travolta: Scientology Could Have Saved Anna Nicole Smith."

Media coverage of Anna Nicole Smith will probably continue until the reporters have extracted the very last drop of story. At that time, everyone will be sick of the story and the coverage and finally Anna Nicole Smith's name will fade into the murky world of non-entities, the ones who no longer dredge up good news coverage. But Anna Nicole Smith was more than a media opportunity.

Anna Nicole Smith was an unfortunate little girl who grew up into a miserable, exhibitionist woman seeking and receiving attention in all the wrong places. She became everything we pray our daughters do not become. She gained notoriety, but not for something noteworthy, creative, of substance or of lasting value, but for doing and saying outlandish things. Anna Nicole Smith was little more than a media opportunity exploring her latest peccadilloes and, all-too-often, an ongoing joke. She gained wealth, but never truly enjoyed it, gaining instead leaches who sought to use her and live off her wealth and need for acceptance.

Exploited in life, Anna Nicole Smith continues to be exploited in death by family, so-called friends and the media.

America has serious issues that need coverage from the war in Iraq to anti-family, anti-business, anti-democratic bills being shepherded through congress by those who really don't seek media spotlight on what is going on. Yet, instead of doing their job of informing the citizenry, much of the media from print and radio to TV and the internet continues to exploit Anna Nicole Smith's sad life with thousands of inches of copy and a huge chunk of air time.