Read More of the Same Day's Blog

Thursday's untimely death of Michael Jackson, the bestselling pop singer of the '70s and '80s, translated into saturation obituary coverage. The networks' newscasts covered the investigation into his demise; the global outpouring of grief from his fans; his chaotic personal, financial and legal troubles; the assessment of his peers in the music industry; and his artistic legacy as a peerless songwriter, dancer and singer. His death was such big news that it eclipsed all other stories. It occupied 95% of the three-network newshole (57 min out of 61). No other development was deemed worthy of coverage by a correspondent. In the past year only the inauguration of President Barack Obama has been a more heavily covered Story of the Day.

All three newscasts led off from Los Angeles with audio clips from the EMS 911 call describing the fatal emergency as Jackson's physician Conrad Murray tried to revive his patient's breathing. The doctor's BMW automobile has been impounded by police, who want to re-interview him. The coroner completed a three-hour autopsy on Jackson's corpse. "All indications point to an individual in the grip of a very serious drug problem," ABC's Mike von Fremd surmised, quoting unidentified police sources that Demerol and OxyContin had been detected. He traced Jackson's use of pain medication back 25 years to burn injuries suffered while shooting a commercial for Pepsi-Cola. CBS' Bill Whitaker, too, reported that he had been injected with Demerol but he cited TMZ.com and The Sun, a London tabloid newspaper, as his sources--not the cops.

NBC's Lee Cowan cautioned that it may take as long as eight weeks for toxicology tests to be completed but that did not stop him quoting his in-house physician Nancy Snyderman. Her long-distance diagnosis involved the strenuous rehearsal regime Jackson had undertaken for a run of concerts in London: "It looks like there is a perfect storm of eating disorder, probably anorexia, narcotic abuse and sheer exhaustion. When that happens it takes a phenomenal toll on the lungs, on the circulatory system." ABC's in-house physician Timothy Johnson consulted many unidentified experts. They predicted "there will be many other drugs involved; he probably was a walking polypharmacy."

Andrew Tyndall 7/7/09 10:44:54 pm

© 2010 Tyndall Report