The twenty-first century lynch mob: some members of the 24 hour television news media and what we owe them.

Why do so many ordinary people under suspicion, in distress, or related to a personal tragedy appear on so-called television news? What the hell are they thinking? Isn’t anyone advising them to stay in the house and close the curtains? What do they think the advantage will be?

And here I’m not talking about those dopey trailer park residents who get a free trip somewhere and lots of money to talk about their sexual relationship with their cousin Joe Bob. We would all continue to live successfully if they went away.

I heard a guy on TV a couple of weeks ago, a so-called media adviser, saying that the only way Tiger Woods could turn his terrible situation around was to appear immediately on TV and declare his sorrow for all he had done. The very worst thing he could do, this moron said, was to not put his face on the screen. After all, the American media had made him who he was and they deserved their pound of flesh. No mention of the fact that he was a pretty good golfer to begin with.

I think that is descriptive of just how important certain media elements think they are in forming the news as opposed to reporting it. You owe us. It appears to be what drives paparazzi photographers who will go to any length, legal or otherwise, endangering lives even, to take an embarrassing picture of a movie actor. The actor owes them. They made them who they are. Their ability to act is irrelevant.

There is a lady on Head Line News named Nancy Grace who decides what she believes is the news of the day, week, month or year, at least in her scandal-ridden mind, and literally beats the story to death. She screams and shouts at anyone appearing on her program if they suggest anything that differs from her view on the murder, kidnapping or whatever she is currently promoting or the person she has chosen as the murderer, kidnapper, etc. Sadly, she is not alone.

Not only do these poor, sorry souls, guilty or not, owe her, she is their one person lynch mob. She is making the news, not reporting it. She is relentless. These people are getting what Nancy Grace has decided they deserve. She must, like God, never be mistaken. We can only hope.