Media Monitoring....

Deb Mitchell taught me so many important skills. Deb Mitchell is one of my favorite people in the world.

Many may read this and not relate, as Deb has a legendary reputation at Westminster for being a VERY challenging professor. She accepts nothing but the ULTIMATE best. She starts each each semester by stating to her class "Many of you may think you'll get an A, but you won't. I don 't give out A's. I'm not here to pat you on the head, i'm here to make you think. If you can't deal with criticism, leave now. If you are going to cry, change your major. Welcome to the real world."

So, you can see why some people don't exactly relate to my love for her. Deb is one of those people that will terrify you, but also inspire you. One of the things we were taught to do as PR majors was to monitor the media. Deb stressed how important it is for Public Relations professionals to know about what is going on locally, nationally and worldwide. Trends affecting our jobs, what issues we may have to deal with etc. That practice stuck with me.

Today I was browsing my regular sights, abcnews, drudge report, Butler Eagle(haha!).... and I came upon a story about Governor Spitzer's prostitute friend. Apparently because of this scandal, the aspiring singer is now recieving the attention of major recod labels, her myspace page is recieving record hits...and because of what?

Because she was involved with a high-powered government official in a provocative scandal. That situation being "news", I understand. Her career taking off and becoming "news"--I don't understand. The line between real news, and what our culture considers news nowadays is really skewed. Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears and the Olsen Twins personal lives are interesting yes, but are they worthy of prime-time coverage?? No!

In college, when I would browse for current events, I saw things like oil prices going up, Condeliza Rice and the war on Iraq. While I still see those types of things, now when I browse for news I see celebrity custody battles, lawsuits and prostitutes getting record deals.

I'm not sure Deb would approve.