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In case we missed it in Friday’s paper, the Los Angeles Times reminded us today that Michael Jackson is dead. The coverage was wide-ranging and involved by my count at least two-dozen writers.
In case you missed it, there was:
- Former pop critic Robert Hilburn’s Column One piece on how Jackson “grew from wide-eyed 11-year-old to lonely 23-year-old to anguished man”
- News coverage of how the investigation has turned to Jackson’s prescription drug use
- A report on his last rehearsal at Staples Center
- A story on somber fans paying tribute by mobbing the pop star’s gold star in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, making pilgrimages to his family’s Encino home and generally staying up all night mourning their loss
- Ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley’s report that Jackson foresaw his demise years ago
- TV critic Robert Lloyd’s musings on how television covered the story even when there was no story to report (no irony here)
- Tributes “from Mexico to Moscow,” including a photo of a really creepy Michael Jackson head sculpted from sand on a beach in India
- A report on the likelihood that ex-wife Debbie Rowe will get custody of the kids (or at least Prince Michael Jr. and Paris Michael Katherine; Prince Michael II was birthed by an unknown surrogate)
- A story on how celebrity magazines were caught unprepared and have shifted “into overdrive” with their coverage (again keeping a straight face)
- “Too Much Michael?” by Tim Rutten in the op-ed pages (my favorite part: “No reasonable editor or producer should ignore the kind of public interest we’re seeing. But surrendering utterly to it ultimately undercuts what’s genuinely valuable about serious news media.”)
That’s just the first section. Moving on to Business:
- Coverage of how retailers are rushing to meet the unprecedented demand “for all things MJ”
- A look at how Jackson’s death has further complicated sale of Neverland, the Santa Barbara ranch/zoo/amusement park he once owned
- John Horn’s Company Town reports that Sacha Baron Cohen has cut a comic sequence about Jackson and sister La Toya from his new film “Bruno”
- Another report on Jackson’s fans, this time how tourists are flocking to MJ sites all over Los Angeles
I didn’t notice any reports on how Jackson’s death was affecting mortgage rates, the stock market, elections in Iran or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or, for that matter, the weather, but I might have missed them. Moving on to the Calendar section:
- Current pop music critic Ann Powers weighs in on how being a Michael Jackson fan was worth all the weirdness
- An essay reflected on how the King of Pop “turned isolation into the ultimate art”
- Former dance critic Lewis Segal had an appreciation for Jackson’s moves
- Various musical artists are changing the performances they had planned for Sunday’s BET Awards show to now honor their fallen comrade in song
- TV critic Lloyd returns to give us an overview of all the Jackson cartoons, TV specials, music videos, etc.
- Christopher Smith flashes back to when he saw Michael Jackson perform “Billie Jean” at the Motown 25 fund raiser at the Pasadena Civic back in 1983
- Editors dig through the record review archives for another look at the Times‘ reviews of “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad”
- And last, but certainly not least, there’s a piece about how Michael Jackson liked to shop at many of L.A.’s great indie bookstores (because, I suppose, being the ultimate isolationist gave him lots of time for reading)
I appreciate the restraint shown by the editors of the Sports and Home sections, where there was no coverage to be found. Or maybe they just couldn’t find an angle.
At this point the Times can’t die fast enough for me. Los Angeles deserves better than this.
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