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Bill Whitaker at CBS tried manfully to vindicate his network's decision to treat the Michael Jackson as major news. He covered the routine decision by a probate court to grant control of the pop star's estate to the executors of his will. "Another battle," hyped Whitaker, "attorneys duking it out over who controls Jackson's fame and fortune." That is not how the other two newscasts saw the court hearing. ABC's Jim Avila called it a "skirmish" while on NBC it was nothing more than a "debate" as far as Lee Cowan was concerned.
Ben Tracy was the second arrow in CBS' quiver to keep the Jackson story in the bullseye. He covered the police beat, repeating reports that investigators are "focusing on five doctors who may have been prescribing drugs for the singer. Some of the drugs found reportedly did not have labels or used an alias."
Third was Jeff Glor, taking the municipal angle. He asked how the City of Los Angeles could afford to police the environs of the Staples Center where the memorial concert would be held. "It is an awful time for the city," Glor stated, referring to its fiscal state rather than its bereavement. "The city right now is $500m in debt if you can believe it." The cost of police, sanitation and crowd control might add $2m more in red ink, he estimated.
Fourth, Jeff Greenfield (no link) was diverted from his normal political beat to file a thumbsucker. "Why?" he mused. "Why the lines a half mile long, the spontaneous memorials, the explosion of online tributes?" He checked off explanations about Jackson's talent and the emotional attachment of fans and fascination with his dysfunctional personal life. Then he turned to navel gazing: "Finally there is us. The avalanche of coverage has a message beyond the story. It tells the world that this is a matter of enormous weight." The easy remedy for that, of course, would be for CBS to cover Jackson with the lack of attention he deserves, just like ABC and NBC are doing.
All three newscasts did agree that the preparations for the Staples Center memorial were newsworthy. An online lottery gave away 11,000 free tickets to fans. CBS' Katie Couric, anchoring from outside the Staples Center, called the plastic golden bracelet given to ticketholders "the most envied piece of jewelry in Los Angeles." ABC's Avila ticked off headline performers scheduled to appear: Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Lionel Richie, Usher, Stevie Wonder. NBC's Cowan promised a "star-studded goodbye."
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