The Case of the Inexplicable Twins

There has been a number of unusual media obsessions over the past few years. The common theme of these cases is that they involve strenuous coverage of stories which many media critics consider unfit for more than a passing mention on national news shows. However, at least some of them share a deep thematic similarity with news stories which are embarrassing to political powers. The difference is who they involve. For instance, as Cindy Sheehan was camped outside George Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, demanding to meet with the President concerning the death of her son in Iraq, the mother of the missing teenage girl Natalee Holloway received obsessive coverage of her quest to force authorities in Aruba to work harder to find her daughter. Another, more timely story are the twin quests of Paris Hilton and Scooter Libby to stay out of jail. Paris was forced to serve part of her time in prison, despite the Sherriff’s decision to allow a term of house arrest in lieu of time in a cell. Libby, on the other hand, had yet to begin his sentence when the President commuted his jail time, with the public explanation that he found the sentence “excessive.”
These incidents may provoke an emotional and moral confusion, of which I sometimes wonder, “Is it intentional?” The story of a mother, seeking closure for a child’s death and her conviction that civil authorities have been negligent or callous in dealing with the situation; the story of a priviliged person, found guilty of a crime and sentenced to jailtime over strenuous objections; Sheehan vs. Holloway and Libby vs. Hilton present deep themeatic similarites. The question is, are there any more of these cases? Are the inexplicable ones, the ones that would not normally rise to the level of obsessional national media coverage, chosen by some conscious mechanism? Or is it an example of subconscious “me-too” behavior, or one-upsmanship among the media? Does this coincidence of stories detract from people’s understanding of the ones that have national import? Are they, intentionally or unintentionally, used as “relief valves” for outrage that may involve the political elites?