Women and Children First on the Titanic, Invisible in the Media

This past week, celebrity deaths have consumed US media outlets, from the breaking news on CNN of Michael Jackson's "golden casket" on its way to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, to the numerous press conferences about the murder of NFL quarterback Steve McNair. Nevermind that former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was detained in Israel, that bombs were being dropped in Iraq and Afghanistan (among other places), that President Obama was visiting Russia, and that the G8 Summit is being held this week in Italy. All that seems to matter these days is the exuberant celebration and investigations into deaths of celebrities. Even a news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not exempt from this "MJ Madness," as Pelosi fielded a question about the significance Michael Jackson's death.

Invisible to the proliferation of stories on Michael Jackson and Steve McNair are the voices of women and children. Jackson's inappropriate relationships with minors have been widely known for years, yet it took 11 days until this discussion became public, when Pete King, a Republican representative from New York's 3rd Congressional District, dared to speak out against the media circus exalting a known pedophile.

McNair, a married 36-year-old was shot and killed by his 20-year-old girlfriend Sahel Kazemi, who also shot herself. McNair was a married father of four with more than one girlfriend on the side (reportedly unbenownst to his wife). As with the Jackson case, McNair's infidelities are not discussed, and the name of his girlfriend is rarely mentioned.

Pete King asked the question, "what does it say about us as a country?" when he spoke at an American Legion Hall in Wantagh, New York. I call on the major media outlets to answer this question, to take somewhat of an "inventory" of themselves, questioning their motives of elevating and exalting a known child molester and an infidelitous husband. The children that Michael Jackson molested have been rendered invisible by the media (except when they sing his songs). The woman that Steve McNair kept hidden from his wife (whom he betrayed) is invisible, and the reasons behind her drastic acts have yet to be discussed. And why? Because women and children are still, in 2009, invisible, unimportant, and unworthy of having a voice.