Why Isn't Kiefer Getting Paris-Level Coverage? And Media Band Battle Audio

I'm embarrassed to admit that a colleague noticed this before I did.

But here we are, 12 days into Kiefer Sutherland's 48-day sentence for drunk driving, and I've got a simple question: Where is the media?

When Paris Hilton hit the slammer, the media responded with helicopters, continuous cable news coverage, swarms of paparazzi and endless streams of speculation on What It All Means. But do a search on the terms "Kiefer Sutherland" and "jail" on Google News, and the most recent articles you'll see beyond superficial name checking were gossipy items from last Wednesday and Thursday noting that the 24 star is on laundry duty and gets about 100 pieces of fan mail each day.

Nevermind that he's the Emmy-winning star of one of the highest-rated dramas on television. Or that the network which airs 24, though desperate for original material due to the Hollywood writer's strike, hasn't yet scheduled the series for broadcast. Or that he's serving a sentence twice as long at the 23 days Hilton eventually spent in the clink.

Apparently, the struggle of one real Hollywood star to overcome his drinking can't compare with the tribulations of a party-hearty heiress whose biggest acheivements to date have been a self-mocking reality show, a  sex tape released by a former boyfriend and a guest spot on The O.C.

It's a collective media yawn matched only by the non-coverage given Jodie Foster, who finally publicly mentioned last week the 54-year-old woman she has been living with for 14 years, obliquely confirming that, yep, she's gay. (which makes me wonder, how does Entertainment Weekly do a whole cover story on her months ago and not get close to this fact?)

As '80s TV icon Michael J. Fox recently noted in Esquire "I have such empathy for all these young women. I was there, and I did all that crap. We'd rip it up, y'know? And we never got busted on any of that stuff."

Happy as I am to avoid the kind of coverage we saw when Paris went to jail, I'm sad to see the media upholding such a significant double standard; Why should Kiefer get a pass when Paris didn't?

Media Band Battle Audio: Plug Your Ears and Drink Something Strong

 

If I had any sense I'd leave this alone. But a podcasting company has put streaming audio of the recent set by the Times group for the Battle of the Media Bands competition, and I promised them I'd link it here.

My only excuse for the vocals is that the monitors weren't the best, and I had exhausted my voice by chatting with a ton of people before the show started -- hazards of being the last band to play on a four-band bill. I have no excuses, however, for the lack of bass guitar in the mix. thanks to Chuck Palm and the Internet Podcasting Network for recording the audio and putting it online.

Hey, it was for charity and we had one rehearsal. Still sounds better than Paris Hilton. I think.   

Comments

[Eric Deggans]

Thank you Mr. Palm. Your $20 check is in the mail.

[CP]

The important thing here is that Eric is an amazing singer, bassist, and overall GREAT performer! Keifer is a fine actor, but as far as critics go, Eric is a real musician!

[The Mayor]

Eric,

I believe the word you're looking for here is Schadenfreude.

Kiefer Sutherland is a talented (and, by most accounts, ingratiating) guy who has demonstrated his talents (and won an Emmy). He made a mistake; he manned up and accepted both his responsibility and his punishment.

Paris Hilton, on the other hand, is a fluffy and monumentally vain media concoction with no discernible talent outside of being able to be born to an extremely wealthy family. She's either "Don't-you-know-who-I-am"-ing her way through life or sulking like a petulant teen when things don't go her way. When she was tossed in the slammer, her response was "It's not fair! Mom!" She tried to sell her first post-jail interview and, when busted, went on Larry King, where, rather ironically, when Larry used the word "frivolous" she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

I think the responsible media in America hate that they have to cover her and her ilk, but, given the state of flux journalism is in these days, is terrified of losing eyeballs if they don't to the TMZ.com's of this world. Moreover, Kiefer's doesn't posit himself as a glamorous lobotomy patient, so he's not as sexy a subject, since he can string together any number of coherent sentences revealing subtle thoughts, so he isn't exactly begging for the sort of coverage Paris got, while she pretty much was. But, I must agree with other commenters - do you really want more vapid celebrity news?

That said, give me a diaper-wearing astronaut love triangle any day.

[Rich Johnson]

He did the crime. He's doing the time. What's to cover? Back to you.

[F. A. Right]

Just FYI, the correct English usage is: "Where are the media?"

The word "media" is a plural noun. It's a common mistake, but a mistake nevertheless. I thought SP Times folks were more literate than most. Another of my long-held beliefs has been shattered. Please go see R.P. Clark for appropriate punishment.

But I agree with Wenalway; enough is enough of coverage of so-called celebrities and their peccadilloes. Why ask for more when we routinely decry the overkill already extant?

Respectfully,
F.A. Right

[Edward Allen]

who is keefer sutherland?

[Wenalway]

Wait. You want MORE celebrity coverage, on top of the excess we already have? And your justification is that it's been done before, so we need more?

It's time to come in from the sewer, methinks. You alleged journalists are starting to show signs of brain fatigue.