I think that all the attention that Gary's death has gotten in recent days proves what I said about the absence of great coverage for Lena was true. America loves hot messes. The more outrageous your lifestyle and bizarre the circumstances surounding your death, the more likely you'll get a People mag cover. Lena just simply passed away peacefully (as far as we know). None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles, no drug overdose, no fight over where to bury her, or her money, or anything else. I guess having class doesn't sell magazines.

Deadflow3r said:

I think that all the attention that Gary's death has gotten in recent days proves what I said about the absence of great coverage for Lena was true. America loves hot messes. The more outrageous your lifestyle and bizarre the circumstances surounding your death, the more likely you'll get a People mag cover. Lena just simply passed away peacefully (as far as we know). None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles, no drug overdose, no fight over where to bury her, or her money, or anything else. I guess having class doesn't sell magazines.

SAD but so true.....I was appalled to see his death turning into another media circus.

yeah, no disrespect to Gary, but he really contributed nothing to the world (artistically) compared to Lena Horne

But the fact is, he was a bigger part of mainstream entertainment.

he died just around the same time as Dennis Hopper, and Dennis Hopper's death was all over the news--national news, and no mention of Gary Coleman.

So popularity is not everything, having some measure of talent means something too. I am guessing serious outlets news mentioned Lena Horne, too, but Entertainment Tonight doesn't care about her. That's not a bad thing IMO

Deadflow3r said:

I think that all the attention that Gary's death has gotten in recent days proves what I said about the absence of great coverage for Lena was true. America loves hot messes. The more outrageous your lifestyle and bizarre the circumstances surounding your death, the more likely you'll get a People mag cover. Lena just simply passed away peacefully (as far as we know). None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles, no drug overdose, no fight over where to bury her, or her money, or anything else. I guess having class doesn't sell magazines.

it might be because she was like 94 years old and most of her long time fans have passed away too..the only thing i know her from is 'the wiz' alot of old celebrites don't get much news coverage pretty much because of the forth of what i said

Deadflow3r said:

I think that all the attention that Gary's death has gotten in recent days proves what I said about the absence of great coverage for Lena was true. America loves hot messes. The more outrageous your lifestyle and bizarre the circumstances surounding your death, the more likely you'll get a People mag cover. Lena just simply passed away peacefully (as far as we know). None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles, no drug overdose, no fight over where to bury her, or her money, or anything else. I guess having class doesn't sell magazines.

What you talkin' about Deadflow3r???????

A class act like Leona wouldn't want a circus.

Deadflow3r said:

None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles,

What does this mean?

Never heard of her. Coleman was the legend who said "whatchu talkin' bout Willis?". What'd she do? What'd Churchill do to match that stretch? We shouldn't let our personal preferences override our ability to judge value. Gary Coleman was in part an artist because he did not attempt to reinforce our own beliefs or values. His acting was representative of emotions and human interactions and reactions from the mind of real people, embellished touchingly with comic relief. Surely, for many of us he unlocked a door that would later, when entered, make us aware of the great world of aesthetic sensitivity.

[Edited 6/7/10 15:32pm]

I think the American media have a time-honed tradition of throwing coverage behind the most dysfunctional black people they can find -- famous or not.

Whether it's Gary Coleman's grieving/greedy survivors or La'Quonshika talking to the 6 p.m. news crew with her four assorted children in tow, American media folks will find a way to make sure mess is front and center, while steady, model citizenship or pioneering dignity and excellence take a backseat every time.

ThreadBare said:

I think the American media have a time-honed tradition of throwing coverage behind the most dysfunctional black people they can find -- famous or not.

Whether it's Gary Coleman's grieving/greedy survivors or La'Quonshika talking to the 6 p.m. news crew with her four assorted children in tow, American media folks will find a way to make sure mess is front and center, while steady, model citizenship or pioneering dignity and excellence take a backseat every time.

I alway wondered why this was and bout 2 weeks ago CNN was doing that whole black/white child testing on AC 360 and the reporter basically said you know why you alwys see the black poor being interviewed.....cause they live in the city where the news is and not out in the country. Basically its easier to get the sound byte.

lazycrockett said:

ThreadBare said:

I think the American media have a time-honed tradition of throwing coverage behind the most dysfunctional black people they can find -- famous or not.

Whether it's Gary Coleman's grieving/greedy survivors or La'Quonshika talking to the 6 p.m. news crew with her four assorted children in tow, American media folks will find a way to make sure mess is front and center, while steady, model citizenship or pioneering dignity and excellence take a backseat every time.

I alway wondered why this was and bout 2 weeks ago CNN was doing that whole black/white child testing on AC 360 and the reporter basically said you know why you alwys see the black poor being interviewed.....cause they live in the city where the news is and not out in the country. Basically its easier to get the sound byte.

Speaking as an ex-journalist who's reported and coached reporters, I can tell you that the lack of diversity in decision-making positions has a collective effect on the news-gathering process and the standards of media outlets. People with similar backgrounds covering people who are consistently unlike them -- resistant, in many instances to get out of their own intellectual comfort zone and confront their own biases -- fall woefully short of capturing a realistic view of the world.

I've had discussions in newsrooms with photo & graphics editors who see nothing wrong with going out of their way to illustrate crime stories with black men (even when doing so missed the point of the stories' content), with reporters and editors who automatically label rap music misogynistic, and have worked to add balance to nationally produced spots that suggested that blacks constitute a monolithic herd of voters.

USA Today's parent company went so far as to force reporters to have non-white sources, to try to correct the problem of homogenous sourcing for stories: Is there a black lawyer you can use for a story? An asian business owner? A female CEO?

With the buyouts and layoffs that have decimated the news industry in the past decade, minority staffing has fallen at a greater rate than white staffing (and outlets have targeted older, higher salaried journalists for replacement). What results is often a whiter, younger reporting and editing pool that's often too ignorant or lazy to check whether their sourcing and story premise are even rooted in fact.

So, when you say a CNN reporter chalks the (often black) poor's proximity to stories as the reason they're shown so frequently, I concede that point. But I say the lack of diversity in the reporting, editing and management ranks of the media industry -- a longtime problem that's only worsening -- predisposes news coverage to continually ignore non-white professionals and experts. If you continually associate non-whites with dysfunction instead of excellence or even law-abiding innocence, you will reflexively cast them in that role in your coverage and you will be resistant to embrace opposing views of them.

[Edited 6/7/10 21:30pm]

elmer said:

Deadflow3r said:

None of her descendants were seen wearing shackles,

What does this mean?

Never heard of her. Coleman was the legend who said "whatchu talkin' bout Willis?". What'd she do? What'd Churchill do to match that stretch? We shouldn't let our personal preferences override our ability to judge value. Gary Coleman was in part an artist because he did not attempt to reinforce our own beliefs or values. His acting was representative of emotions and human interactions and reactions from the mind of real people, embellished touchingly with comic relief. Surely, for many of us he unlocked a door that would later, when entered, make us aware of the great world of aesthetic sensitivity.

[Edited 6/7/10 15:32pm]

I was refering to all the press last year about Farrah's son Redmond wearing Shackles to her bedside. Also note that Lena Horne was a civil Rights activists who made a significant contribution. Given that your from Spain I can see why this might be something you wouldn't know. She was more then an entertainer.

NDRU said:

he died just around the same time as Dennis Hopper, and Dennis Hopper's death was all over the news--national news, and no mention of Gary Coleman.

So popularity is not everything, having some measure of talent means something too. I am guessing serious outlets news mentioned Lena Horne, too, but Entertainment Tonight doesn't care about her. That's not a bad thing IMO

Even Dennis had the drama of the 11th hour divorce and whether he was healthy to stand trial and who would get what ever was left of his $$$ after he died.