Ruslana Korshunova
As you know I spent the last few days in New York. The first day I was there, Saturday, all the news was the young Russian model throwing herself out her 9th floor window in Manhattan. It was on the cover of the newspapers the next day, and I have to admit I didn’t know who she was (I’m sure most of you didn’t either) but here you had a 20-year old seemingly with everything and yet with nothing. I thought of the suicide in the context of a reminder that what most people think what matters, doesn’t. Money, fame, beauty, whatever it is you think is missing in your life isn’t the thing that makes life remarkable.
I wasn’t going to blog on this as suicide and something this horrible isn’t the sort of thing I like discussing. Look, the event should speak for itself, but I mention it now because internet postings about how this wasn’t suicide but a murder by the Russian mafia. Here’s a little bit of a newsflash for all the conspiracy theorists who just can’t believe this was a suicide: people kill themselves all the time, including the young. No it doesn’t make sense but it happens. Most of these direct or indirect suicides (Heath Ledger is an example of that) talk about their despair or openly discuss the desire to die. Her own internet postings make it clear she was deeply confused and depressed. Feelings of despair, combined with possible drug or alcohol use, can lead one to the inexplicable. Just as with Ledger, the people closest to her, like those “boyfriends” being interviewed, will have to live with their lack of action for the rest of their lives.
Actually, I’ve reduced my viewing of Fox News lately for just this sort of thing. They’ve become the “The National Enquirer” of Cable News Progamming. Little by little, I’ve noticed how they’re constantly devoting enormous amounts of reporting time to stories like this one. Sensational, gruesome, or celebrity-related incidents that have no real information value to viewers. I’m repulsed by this. Even Bill O’Reilly devotes as much as 1/4 of his program to some silly dispute, or random comment, or sexually tinged story that no intelligent person would be the slightest bit interested in. It’s like they’re going after the “Jerry Springer” demographic, and they’re ruining the channel.
Does anyone agree with this?
Tammy, Thank you for commentary, which criticizes Fox’s decision to run the photo of this young woman’s dead body on the street. I totally agree that this was unnecessary and ghoulish, and it is what gives “the media” a bad reputation. I am unhappy to read that Fox is the culprit in this one, my favorite news agency. These kids that live in these high octane life styles, but suffer from incredible deprivation … they need to have lives that would allow them to just come home and walk the dog under the stars.
I remember seeing Geraldo annoyed at the poor video clip chosen by his staff featuring the paparazzo beaten up by surfers “defending” Matthew McConaughey. After a commercial break he cues up a longer youtube video on a laptop and tries to get the cameraman to zoom in on the laptop screen. I’ve noticed that Fox News has moved his show to a later time slot.
I’m surprised at how prophetic James L. Brooks’ “Broadcast News (1987)” has become. TV news has been reduced to short sound/video bites accompanied by longer commercial breaks.
Geraldo has done some good stuff but he’s always put sensationalism before all else. I remember those Satanic Panic stories he did where people would describe scenes from old Hammer movies and he’d act as if he believed them just to get ratings. He helped create a panic that sent innocent people to jail.
Ergo i am shocked but not surprised by Geraldo being involved in this.