The problem with this allegation, at least from a media observer’s perspective, is that it’s difficult to prove. Afterall, we face being labeled cynics or conspiracy theorists if we even question the mass media’s story that Kanye was just, as our president said, “a jack*ss”. But what if we didn’t see ourselves as cynic, but rather as a skeptic. We question the “truth” that’s fed to us by a media industry driven by sensationalism and profits.

The tough part is that we may never know the truth of why this really happened. All we know is that this year’s VMAs have received more media attention than they have in recent years. And isn’t media attention what gets people to buy records and visit MTV.com to view the clip (with an ad placed right before it)?

The fact is that these types of shows don’t have the audience or the influence that they once used to. In the old days, artists used to get a bump in sales when winning an award, but the effect is less prominent these days. However, it would be interesting to see if both Taylor Swift’s and Kanye West’s records begin selling more than usual in the next week or two. Afterall, radio stations have now been playing both artists in heavy rotation lately, in addition to talking about the controversy. All of this has to help record sales.

One last point is about reputations. Doesn’t Kanye West have a bad-boy “I’m loud and obnoxious” image to begin with? What better way to reinforce that image than to do something like this? And isn’t Taylor Swift’s image that of the young, innocent little flower? What better way to reinforce that image than to make her a victim, right in front of a TV audience? It couldn’t hurt on both accounts.

Again, it’s impossible for regular people to ever know if this was a spur-of-the-moment thing, or if it was a highly crafted attempt at getting us to notice these two artists and the network this show aired on. In the end, does it even matter? They got us talking, which was bound to happen either way.

Ariel – http://mediaspeculation.wordpress.com/

Mathew – http://matthewcomm10.wordpress.com/

Sydnee – http://downbyethecshore.wordpress.com

Abdul – http://duski50.wordpress.com

Alec – http://alecjenkins.wordpress.com

Jessica – http://jipblog.wordpress.com/

Suzanne – http://suzawoo.wordpress.com

Jasmine – http://jnallie357.wordpress.com

Jose – http://09brutalpunisher.wordpress.com

Frankchesska – http://chesska55.wordpress.com

Britanny – http://brittanywatson.wordpress.com/

Yvonne – http://rene1853.wordpress.com

Raul – http://raulherrerasmc.wordpress.com

Sean – http://masternak08.wordpress.com

Danielle – http://daniellecomm10.wordpress.com

Nicole C – http://checkthemirror.wordpress.com/

Gaby – http://gobynunez.wordpress.com

Christopher – http://chrisfabiancom10.wordpress.com/

Byron – http://bramirez90016.wordpress.com

Erin – http://erinjenkins.wordpress.com/

Eli – http://theopinionater.wordpress.com

Lupe – http://lupe1027.wordpress.com

Ricky – http://rruelas.wordpress.com

Renee – http://reneejoi.wordpress.com/

Mayra – http://mvcm5.wordpress.com/

Lucia – http://lucia1989.wordpress.com

Carla – http://carla1989.wordpress.com

Bobbi – http://h8t3.wordpress.com

Jesse – http://jdubbol30.wordpress.com

Elizabeth – http://elimorgut.wordpress.com

Nicole Q – http://siezeworld.wordpress.com

Christian – http:/armirezchristian.wordpress.com

Shardia – http://sharwade.wordpress.com

Rodolfo – http://rodolfotiscareno.wordpress.com

Kenia – http://kvchacon.wordpress.com

Alessandro – http://alessandrocalabrese.wordpress.com

Gaby – http://mediacommentary23.wordpress.com

Jessica – http:// jipblog.wordpress.com

Paige – http://paigemonster.wordpress.com/

Miguel – http://bastardbrownie.wordpress.com

Diana – http://ladydee213.wordpress.com

Maria – http://aguirre724.wordpress.com

Amohd – http://mahday.wordpress.com

Janice – http://janice86.wordpress.com

Madeleine – http://madeleineholmback.wordpress.com

Tony – http://urbansports33.wordpress.com

George – http://eurosoccer23.wordpress.com

Becka – http://rebeckajansson.wordpress.com/

Zulfiqar – http://zulfiqarchagany.wordpress.com/

Sarah – http://sarahtellier.wordpress.com/

Justine – http://venice2.wordpress.com

Tay – http://feministgrrrl90.wordpress.com

Daniela – http://grrrl211.wordpress.com

Edgar – http://princeoftherodeo88.wordpress.com

Sanam – http://sanam2.wordpress.com

Becky – http://beckyg.wordpress.com

Amber – http://tinyber.wordpress.com

Joseph -  http://jdavis22.wordpress.com

Stephen – http://LosAngelesUnderground.wordpress.com

Oleg – http://timershin.wordpress.com

Daryl – http://iplayrugby.wordpress.com

Janeen – http://janeeny10.wordpress.com

Steven – http://hiphopablogamus.wordpress.com

Kambria – http://leopardwarhead.wordpress.com

Nick – http://fishehead.wordpress.com

But this post is not about the death of Michael Jackson.  It’s not even about the life of Michael Jackson.  You can read a ton of articles on that, if that’s what you want.  This is about the celebrity of Michael Jackson, or more like the celebrity of the death of Michael Jackson.

The news broke at around 2:00pm today.  TMZ was the first to report, the LA Times followed suit, and that was enough for every news outlet on the face of the earth to pronounce Michael Jackson dead.  Of course, there will be conspiracy theorists who will say he’s not dead, he faked his death, or that he’s been dead for a while not.  But that’s not what this blog post is about either.

The real purpose of this blog post?  Just look at the title and you’ll know it: Michael Jackson dies – why should we care?

Why do we focus so much on celebrity deaths?  When a celebrity dies suddenly, it’s shocking.  Take for example, the death of actress Miranda Richardson.  She died after a skiing accident.  We mourned her loss for a couple of weeks, and then moved on.  While we mourned her death, another 2 people died (on average) on slopes in the United States, but we didn’t focus on their deaths.  Why focus on this person?

Farrah Fawcett died today as well.  She had cancer, and we’ve actually been talking about her impending death for two months now.  But 562,340 people in the United States will die of cancer this year.  Why doesn’t the news focus on them at all?

The big question is, why should we care?  People are born, and people die.  Why is it news?  Maybe because these people are celebrities.  The news organizations will say “people want to know about their beloved celebrities.”  Maybe we care because so much attention is paid to them – they’re so in our faces – that we are forced to care.  But that’s not the real answer either.

The real answer is that we care because the media has made us care.  They put it on TV and online and tell us, “this is what you should pay attention to.” And why do news outlets make things important when they may otherwise be ordinary occurences?  Because these stories draw in an audience.  When news outlets have an audience, they make money – the bigger the audience, the more money they make.  The more sensational the story, the bigger the audience, the bigger the payoff.

So does the news media care because we care, or vice versa?  A little bit of both.  Afterall, I wrote this blog post because I knew you’d care to read it, and you read it because you care to know more about this story.

Below is a listing of the students’ blogs. More will be added as their blogs are submitted.

Judy – http://judynaziri.wordpress.com

Tony K. – http://tonyk89.wordpress.com

Jessica – http://jshomof2.wordpress.com

Mescal – http://mescal70.wordpress.com

Tony W. – http://urbansports33.wordpress.com

Lajuana – http://psalm025.wordpress.com

Maya – http://Bueny12.wordpress.com

Celina – http://C3L1Na.wordpress.com

Demis – http://demisdamenis.wordpress.com

Keion – http://dkevin.wordpress.com

Arian – http://boonja.wordpress.com

Alex – http://yeyah.wordpress.com

Alessia – http://alesby.wordpress.com

Darya – http://Daryaf.wordpress.com

Kyrllos – http://underfire000.wordpress.com

Sara – http://ohhellosarajlim.wordpress.com

Victor – http://vperez87.wordpress.com

Gordon – http://gordon993.wordpress.com

Kareem – http://niktashk.wordpress.com

Jason – http://specialistprostar.wordpress.com

Nazanin – http://naztrillz.wordpress.com

Brandon – http://bywaters.wordpress.com

Lizeth – http://lizethr.wordpress.com

Jermaine – http://mobettermaine.wordpress.com

Ashley – http://fr33spiriit101.wordpress.com

Mireya – http://yeyah.wordpress.com

Watch her on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Anyone who remembers the song “Video Killed the Radio Star” will attest to the fact that this idea is so true in today’s society.  The music industry is so focused on the visual, that the audio, the music, takes second place.  In the 1900s, Susan Boyle would be a huge star… fame and fortune would await her no matter what age she was, and no matter how she dressed.  But in 2009, Susan is instead ridiculed by the judges who judge her on her appearance, and she is minimized to a viral video on YouTube, a sort of freak show to help get viewers on the website and maybe viewers to watch the TV show.

Susan’s “success” as an internet star is not a win for “ugly” people everywhere, but a reminder that her appearance is not the norm, and so anyone who looks like her better hope they have her voice to be liked. Afterall, the video is filled with subtle put downs… “I’m shocked!”, “unbelievable!”, “unexpected”.  Yes, it is quite unexpected that someone unattractive can have a beautiful voice.

Have we become so superficial as a society?  Are we so interested in beauty that we don’t expect greatness from someone who doesn’t meet that standard?  As one of the judges said “that was one of the biggest surprises I’ve had in three years on the show”, was he talking about the fact that something so beautiful could come out of someone so not beautiful, or was he talking about the fact that the producers of the show would even let someone with Susan’s appearance onto the show?

We may never know the answer, but we hope Susan makes it big… if only to have new viral videos to send to our friends when we’re bored at work.

“He had excellent examples of still visuals, how audio and editing can change the context of an image. Nick has a very low-key delivery when talking, but the pace of the examples was quick and well-paced, making it lively.”

Read the entire review here.

Here are the two sessions I’ll be presenting at CUE:

Thursday 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Visuacy: Understanding Visual Images on Television, in Film, and Online
Ventura, Wyndham Hotel
Today’s visually-intensive world demands that we understand how to “read” the sequence of images we’re presented each day that influence us and the rest of society.

Concurrent Session 8, Saturday
Media Literacy and the 21st Century Classroom
Smoketree DE, Palm Springs Convention Center
This session will provide an overview of media literacy and ways to integrate it into any curriculum, at any grade level, and with any available technology.

For those who plan to attend and would like to have lunch or dinner, send me a tweet @understandmedia

Hyunkyu – http://deepbluemind.wordpress.com

Tarik – http://jackboxthecrackspot.blogspot.com

Emre – http://mrdeveci.wordpress.com

Rona – http://rona972.wordpress.com

Sammy – http://sammymadrid.wordpress.com

Vartan – http://duvartan.wordpress.com

Nathaniel – http://morethinking.wordpress.com

Leonard – http://leomovcomII.wordpress.com

Reg – http://economicrefugee.wordpress.com

Sung – http://takeoffyourpantsandjacket.wordpress.com

Eja – http://wongtong88.wordpress.com

Michelle – http://dognose.wordpress.com

Nina – http://ninaisabel.wordpress.com/

Tiahna – http://jockintheroc.blogspot.com

Adona – http://donsquaredon.wordpress.com

Andrea – http://Lushess.wordpress.com

Yao – http://yaosaetern.wordpress.com

Toya – http://tluvly.wordpress.com

More will be added as they become available.