The Body Politic

Sensible discourse on issues of the day since 2003

Kimberly Krautter

Kimberly Krautter
Location
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Birthday
October 26
Bio
Southern fried iconoclast and Atlanta native Kimberly Krautter is The Anti-Coulter. She blogs about the intersection of public communications and public policy with a side order of musings on pop culture. For 22 years, Ms. Krautter has been a strategic communications consultant to Fortune 500 and emerging industry companies as well as a freelance journalist published in business magazines in the U.S., U.K. and France. Her social commentary has been featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution with light-hearted series featured in Atlanta magazine and others. A popular early blogger, "The Body Politic" was originally hosted on Typepad and has now migrated to Open Salon. Known to have the swiftest soapbox in the South and for being staunchly anti-wing nut, Ms. Krautter believes, "Liberal is not a four-letter word, for that matter neither is Conservative, and solutions are found in the Sensible Center where people are eager to speak with each other instead of just being heard." She is currently authoring a major journalistic work titled "Foreclosure on the Fourth Estate: How spin-fluence and info-tainment killed the American newspaper." Follow her on Twitter @kimbrlykrautter [note: there is no "e" in the "kimbrly" portion of the Twitter handle.]

Kimberly Krautter's Links

Salon.com
JULY 2, 2009 10:14AM

Gov. Mark Sanford as "Ashley Wilkes"

Rate: 3 Flag

Frankly, my dear, I just really don't give a damn. While this scandal has all the earmarks of a classic Southern Gothic romance, it is just so played out. The same goes for Michael Jackson. Seriously. Enough already! Uncle!

Are we really that bored as a society that we need a Harlequin romance read to us on the evening news? Or the Stephen King horror show that is everything to do with Michael Jackson? Yeah, yeah, yeah... I conributed to it too... in the first 24 hours. But a week later, and it still dominates the news hour. It's still the lead story on almost every network.

I can see the news value in a DEA investigation into potential prescription drug violations.  I lived in L.A. for five years, and I can tell you that the pill popping culture there is insidious. This could be a very good outcome to the King of Pop's untimely death. In fact we are overdue for an open and honest examination of our univeral addiction to celebrity.

If the news editors and producers walked down paths like these, they would be adding value to our day. But a rundown of salacious soundbites is just, well, boring.

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Comments

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I hate to say it but as far as the drug culture goes, that's the same thing they said when they wheeled the body of John Belushi out of his motel room. And gathered up the remains of River Phoenix off the street corner. Doped up celebrities are going to die, and that's a sad fact that won't ever change.
Kimberly I agree completely.

Our 'main stream' media has gotten to be as bad as the tabloids. Back in September 2001, it took a catastrophic disaster to get the Sandra Levy/Congressman Gary Condit story off the news and in 2005 it took a major storm to get these two stories off the nightly news: Kate Moss Using Cocaine & Martha Stewart goes to jail.

I know that we all love a good summer read, but like you, I want our news media to concentrate on the important issues of the day.

- rated
I so agree with you. Some people will just become addicts. The bigger problem is the enablers around them. Credible health care professionals like Dr. Drew Pinsky are willing to stand up and say that the entourage of enablers around these celebrities need to become accountable and as a matter of law enforcement, these "Concierge Docs" need to be held accountable. My point in the blog is that THIS is newsworthy. The dramatic drivel is a waste of hot air and is just noise pollution. Thanks so much for reading, for the rating and for your comment.
Gmgaston - How sad is it that Michael Jackson and Mark Sanford kicked the Iran protests off the news? What kind of sick reflection is that on our values?
Kimberly, I just saw this on the Associate Press News Wire….

"Poll: 64 percent say too much Jackson coverage
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Nearly two in three Americans say news organizations have given too much coverage to the death of Michael Jackson, but half say the media have struck the right balance between covering the pop star's personal life and musical career.
In a Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday, 64 percent of those surveyed said Jackson's death last week in Los Angeles has received too much coverage, 29 percent said the story received the right amount and 3 percent said the story got too little attention.
Thirty percent said they followed the story very closely, though that number jumped to 80 percent among blacks, according to the independent public opinion research group.
Pew interviewed about 1,000 adults for the poll, which has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points."

Good to know we are not alone in our thinking about this subject.
It is ridiculous. North Korea is firing missiles again and we talk of him.
What matters about Sanford is abandoning the Guard.
He is the commander of a 10,500 person armed force. That is not ok; see my post on llamas for details. :)
Don, you are so right re: Sanford abandoning his duty. Indeed that is newsworthy which makes the soap opera focus even more sickening. I will check out your post on "llamas." Can't wait, sounds like it will be a good one :)