Stop Me Before I Kill Again - Charlie Warner - MediaBizBloggers

The following headline was on The Huffington Post on Monday, February15: "Donald Trump Points to Snow Storms, Calls for Al Gore to Be Stripped of Nobel Prize."

Thus, Trump proves he knows as much about climate change as he does about running casinos or having meaningful relationships with women. His knowledge in these areas rivals the expertise and intellectual depth of Sarah Palin on foreign policy and geography.

Why does the media continue to give publicity and celebrity status to Trump and Palin? The answer is the ultimate example of circular and media logic. They get headlines because they are famous, and they are famous because they get headlines.

Fame gets you on television, which in turn, gets you more famous – the celebrity circle.

Thus, their goal is not accomplishment, productivity, creativity, excellence, humor, expertise, or contribution to humanity, but to get headlines and to be famous.

Fame got Trump a prime-time television program on NBC (and we know how much that helped NBC, which General Electric is palming off on Comcast) and fame got Palin a gig as a commentator on Fox News.

Sarah Palin is eminently qualified to be on Fox News; she's got a pretty face and nice hair, which probably explains why Donald Trump doesn't have a gig on Fox News and might well explain why NBC eventually canceled "The Apprentice."

What should the media do to stop creating these shallow monsters of fame? They should stop publicizing them, stop giving air time and ink to them.

So stop me from writing before I kill again.

Until he retired in 2002, Charlie Warner was Vice President of AOL's Interactive Marketing division. Before joining AOL, he was the Goldenson Endowed Professor at the Missouri Journalism School where he taught media management and sales, and he created and ran the annual Management Seminar for News Executives. Charlie can be contacted at charleshwarner@gmail.com.

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