Anorak

Anorak News | Charlie Sheen Is Enabled By The Tabloid Media: And We Love It

Charlie Sheen Is Enabled By The Tabloid Media: And We Love It

by | 2nd, March 2011

CHARLIE Sheen is providing fun copy just now. He’s shagging porn stars, getting off his face and giving the kind of quotes that can fill a tabloid with debate about his status as a role model (in the tabloids, everyone is a role model when they’ve been on the telly). But without the media would Charlie Sheen exist? Sheen’s love of the limelight suggests that he exists only to be on view. Exposure is what he is.

Julie Moos writes in Poynter:

Sheen has appeared on “The Alex Jones Show,” “The Dan Patrick Show,” “Loose Cannons,” NBC’s “Today” show, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.” He has texted People magazine and RadarOnline and been interviewed live on TMZ.com. And he’s not done yet. Howard Stern says his show may be next. Tuesday evening, “20/20” will air a lengthy interview with the actor.

Lots of coverage for the actor who can raise hell in the cosy comfort of a home porn cinema of five star hotel suite.

The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart says “Enough’s enough” — “that the ‘enablers of tabloid journalism’ should intervene rather than interview.”

Of course, in writing about Sheen, she, like we, are adding to the narrative. Barnhart is approaching the same thing from another angle. She is creating a new debate, one that’s a bit more highbrow than the tabloid sensationalism and is unlikely to feature shots of Sheen’s Porn Family.

“Charlie Sheen, according to Dr. Drew Pinsky, is having an ‘acute manic episode.’ … He is not well, and he is a danger not just to himself but to others. … It’s time for all the tabloid media to stop returning Charlie’s texts and calls. Instead, they should be using their journalism to identify the people around Charlie who can actually get him into a rehab facility — against his will if necessary — and then start badgering them to do something.”

Forget gawping and gossiping – Barnhart prefers kidnap and detention. The soft porn shots are starting to look wholesome.

Moos writes:

Viewers expect journalists to verify facts, as ABC News and RadarOnline did, in part, by having Sheen take a drug test to substantiate his claim that he was sober and clean. The urine test showed he was clean for the 72 hours before it was taken.

Tabloid TV is the hunt for celebrity sleaze that seeped into the mainstream. The news is not buttoned down and respectable – it is hairy-knuckled, Australian and drooling on Monica Lewinsky, in a ceaseless 24-hour ride for ratings.

Read: Tabloid Baby

denise-richards_1

Image 5 of 5

Denise Richards - ex-wife to Sheens and mother to their daughters Sam J. Sheen and Lola Rose Sheen



Posted: 2nd, March 2011 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink