In my early morning Teddy Kennedy Dead at 77 media roundup post, I observed, “That the Chappaquiddick scandal didn’t make the first several paragraphs — or even first page — of several of these obits is quite remarkable. It would be like writing an obit for Richard Nixon that didn’t mention Watergate or one for Michael Jackson that glossed over repeated allegations of pedophilia.”

Hanna Rosin expands on that point quite a bit, including implicitly pointing out that it was a rather large elephant in the room:

Google Trends this morning is a perfect window into our tabloid culture and the recesses of our depraved minds. While the papers are full of words like “dynasty” and “legacy,” Mary Jo Kopechne, according to Google Hot Trends, is uppermost in our thoughts. Her name comes up as number one in the ranking, and several more places on the list, misspelled. Chappaquiddick shows up high and often, too; once correctly, and then in several illiterate incarnations.

Partly, I blame this discrepancy on the American papers, which are still bent on hagiography. I prefer British obituaries, which tell it like it is. And partly, of course, this is the fault of our vapid tabloid culture. The only surprise today is that Kate Gosselin has been knocked back all the way to number 30. “Michael Jackson alive” is a popular trend. Yeah. Jamming with Elvis.

Finally, there is the issue of the obvious narrative the papers are not stringing together. In my mind, I’ve always equated Ted Kennedy with Chuck Colson, the disgraced Nixon aide who went on to found an admirable Christian organization called “Prison Fellowship.” Public officials who do terrible things and then say they’re sorry (often in a press conference or book) are a dime a dozen. But the ones who do something terrible and then repent indirectly in the form of a lifetime of dedicated public service are rare. Colson and Kennedy are just about the only two I can think of.

Mary Jo Kopechne is on our minds because this narrative about Ted Kennedy makes sense, in some intuitive, appealing way. Kennedy killed a girl. That’s his rosebud. He made up for it partly by declining the ultimate glory of running for president, and choosing the more humble path—helping the underclass using the slow, steady machinery of the Senate.

Other than the fact that Kennedy actually did run for president — in a bitter primary battle with President Jimmy Carter in 1980 — that all strikes me as right. And, indeed, the Guardian obit covers this neatly in a single paragraph:

Kennedy’s career was significantly blighted by the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969 in which the car he was driving ran off a bridge and plunged into the water, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. While he never reached the pinnacle of power, Kennedy eventually shed his playboy image to become a serious political presence in the Senate. His death marks the twilight of a political dynasty and deals a blow to Democrats as they seek an overhaul of the healthcare system, one of Kennedy’s personal goals.

Teddy Kennedy lived an extraordinary life of tremendous accomplishment interspersed with some horrible scandals and family tragedy.  It’s why he was such a fascinating figure. But his story simply can’t be told without the word Chappaquiddick.

UPDATE:  E&P’s Sam Chamberlain tallied how far into the obits the first mention of the incident appeared:

NY Daily News- 13^th graf

Associated Press- 7^th graf

Boston Herald-  10^th graf

Boston Globe-  5^th graf

NY Times- 14^th graf

NY Post- 14^th graf

Washington Post-  9^th graf

Wall Street Journal-  6^th graf

LA Times-  12^th graf

Chicago Tribune-  12^th graf (same obit as LA Times)

Miami Herald-  10^th graf

Reuters- 18^th graf

USA Today- 19th graf

Politico- 24th graf

The Hill-NO MENTION

Roll Call-25th graf

National Journal-11th graf

Times of London- 8^th graf

In fairness, for a variety of reasons having to do with the printing and editing process from bygone days, a newspaper “graf” is often much shorter than a proper paragraph.  Still, the most notable single fact about Kennedy’s life was mentioned well after the average reader would have lost interest.

Americans’ limited interest in foreign affairs has long been lamented. But surely, the war in Afghanistan deserves more press coverage than the death of a pop star?

In my New Atlanticist piece “Michael Jackson Trumps Afghanistan in News Coverage” I explain why this in fact happened — despite Afghanistan getting a seven month head start and the year being only eight months old. The punchline:

[T]he Jackson story is phenomenally easy to cover:  Point a camera at invited guests.  It’s mostly speculation, reminiscences, and blather.  And, frankly, it’s juicier fodder for the cable “news” networks, which mostly do infotainment during prime time absent breaking hard news.

The situation in Afghanistan is a slow-burning story.  Coalition troops have been in country going on eight years and it might take decades of steady work to achieve our goals there.  That’s very hard to cover on television even aside from the danger, complication, and cost.  Aside from the occasional firefight and terrorist attack, it’s the theatrical equivalent of watching paint dry.

Oh:  And coverage of Afghanistan has more than doubled since the beginning of the month.

Busy day around the Joyner household, so likely not much posting unless Michael Jackson comes back to life, President Obama hosts a mojito summit, or similar earth shattering news breaks.

In the meantime, enjoy some of these fine posts over at MANzine.

• Do Cheaters Make Better Leaders? (Jon Stonger) – Sex scandals have been a part of American democracy since the founding of the republic. Given that, could it be that unfaithful politicians make for better leaders?

• Summertime Drinking (James Joyner) – It’s summertime and time to put away those heavy cabernets, stouts, and whiskey drinks.

• Real Men: Joshua Chamberlain (Jon Stonger) – How one man really can change history . . . provided he’s standing on top of a critical hill with a regiment of troops under his command

• A Trio of Fine Scotches (Alex Knapp) – Like a lot of guys, I am a fan of many different kinds of alcohols–fine ales, a good vodka, a well-aged rum–but when you just get right down to it, there’s really nothing that beats a good single malt scotch.

• Being a Sports Dad (Steve Verdon) – It is not easy being the father of a child that participates in a sport. One aspect of being a man is that we like to compare ourselves to other men. Who has the better car, house, newest toy, etc.

• Women’s Sports: Who Cares? (James Joyner) Women’s professional sports are in big trouble. The LPGA and WNBA are falling apart and WUSA is long gone. So what?

• My What a Fine Mojito! (Matt Mehaffey) Use this remarkably simple mojito recipe to impress your friends at your next party.

• Is It Really a Sport? (Jon Stonger) Basketball is, without question, a sport. Poker and figure skating are not. Here’s why.

• 5 Remakes Better Than The Original (James Joyner) – Usually, remakes are a pale imitation of the original. After all, nobody remakes bad concepts. These are the exceptions.

• Perfect in Every Way (Rick Moran) – White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle added to the rich history and tradition of the game by pitching the 18th perfect game in baseball history.

• Real Men: American Scientists (Alex Knapp)  – When people talk about what it means to be a “real man,” they often have in mind warriors or sports heroes. Isn’t it time we started considering scientists?

Via Megan McArdle, I see that President Obama told a woman whose now-105-year-old mother got a pacemaker five years ago that, under Obamacare, we might just give old ladies a pill:

Megan observes, “I don’t know that this is going to hurt the image of healthcare reform.  But it probably isn’t going to help.”  That was my reaction, too, until I realized that the exchange took place in the ABC News town hall special on June 25 and this was the first I’d heard of it.

Of course, the fact that Michael Jackson died the same day might have something to do with that.

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern.

Dave Schuler and I will be talk about President Obama’s trip to Russia, the G8 summit, the Afghanistan surge, and anything but Michael Jackson.

We’ll also be taking calls at (646) 716-7030. Owing to a high trolls to legit callers ratio, however, we’ll be using the BTR chat feature to screen for legit calls.

You can play the show, subscribe to its feed, or share it with your friends via the widget below:

(Note: The playback automatically updates to the most recent show available. Older shows can be accessed at the show archives.)

He’s dead and buried but Michael Jackson still dominates the news:

The makers of the film “Bruno” have cut a scene featuring Michael Jackson’s sister La Toya because of fears it was in poor taste following the singer’s death, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The scene in the spoof movie featuring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as an outrageous gay Austrian fashion reporter was removed “out of respect” for the Jackson family, the spokeswoman said.

Baron Cohen’s last film, “Borat” enraged many people in Kazakhstan for its portrayal of a hapless Kazazh journalist who described his compatriots as primitive and incestuous.

In the offending scene in “Bruno”, he jokes about Michael while he and La Toya eat sushi off the naked bodies of workmen at his apartment and he then tries to steal Michael’s number from her phone.

The scene was removed in time for the US premiere of the film last month, in the immediate aftermath of Jackson’s death, but it was unclear at that point whether it was a temporary measure.

The notion that there are things that might be considered “in poor taste” by the standards of a Sacha Baron Cohen flick is mindboggling, indeed.  Especially when one considers the fact that the scene as described above was considered in good taste previously.

UPDATE: McSuderman actually went to see the movie last night and Megan McArdle was not amused.  Her review is worth reading in full but this point is especially worth considering:

Plus there’s always the disturbing knowledge that I’d be deeply, deeply offended if any straight man approached me the way he went after those men.

Quite right.  Taken umbrage at being unexpectedly groped or otherwise abased does not a bad person make.

Commenter Tim Maguire observes that Cohen’s “entire repertoire consists of using people’s better nature against them. Asking for the help of strangers and then, when help is given, make them look stupid and laugh at their humiliation.”   It’s occasionally quite funny because of the sheer farce.  Mostly, though, it’s rather sad.

Taking a quick glance at YahooNews before shutting down for the evening, I see that the most popular searches are “Michael Jackson Memorial,” “Michael Jackson Funeral,” and “Nicole Bobek.”

I gathered from Twitter and other sources that the Michael Jackson funeral was a ridiculous circus, which is fitting in so many ways.  But, what with Jackson having been dead several days at this point, it strikes me as a condition unlikely to change.  That he has finally been eulogized and buried was inevitable.

Nicole Bobek was a name that seemed vaguely familiar but I was unaware of any news surrounding her.  I naturally clicked the link.

• Ex-Skating Champ Nicole Bobek Charged in Meth Bust

  Former figure skating champion Nicole Bobek has been charged with being part of a Northern New Jersey drug ring.

  Fox News - Jul 07 12:26 PM

• Former figure skating champ Nicole Bobek arrested in drug ring bust

  Former U.S. figure skating champion Nicole Bobek has been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine as part of a northern New Jersey drug ring.

  New York Daily News - Jul 07 10:07 AM

• Former figure skating champ Nicole Bobek makes bail on drug charges

  AP file photoNicole Bobek, seen during her figure skating heyday, has made bail and was released from the Hudson County jail in Kearny. Former U.S. figure skating champion Nicole Bobek posted bail in the form of a $100,000 bond and…

  The Star-Ledger - Jul 07 9:07 AM

• Nicole Bobek’s mugshot released after former skating champ’s drug arrest

  A day after former figure skating champion Nicole Bobek appeared via videolink in a Jersey City courtroom on a drug-dealing conspiracy charge , the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office has released her mugshot to The Jersey Journal.

  El Nuevo - Jul 07 3:32 PM

• Former Figure Skating Champ Nicole Bobek Charged in Meth Bust

  Former figure skating champion Nicole Bobek has been charged with being part of a Northern New Jersey drug ring. The 31-year-old Bobek made her first court appearance Monday by video from the Hudson County Jail. Bobek, who has homes in New York and Jupiter, Fla., was arrested in Florida last week.

  FOX 61 Chattanooga - Jul 07 1:20 PM

• Former skating champ Nicole Bobek arrested on drug charges

Ah . . . the public’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge.  It never ceases to amaze.

The list of major celebrities who have died in recent days is staggering.  Ed McMahon.  Farrah Fawcett.  Michael Jackson.  Billy Mays. Karl Malden. Steve McNair.

Ironically, however, Abe Vigoda — who was famously erroneously declared dead by People magazine way back in 1982 — is still alive and kicking at 88.

Aaron Brazell argues that, with the advent of instant-reporting of rumor via Twitter and other social media, the mainstream press has fallen behind.  He cites yesterday’s Steve McNair murder, the false rumors that Jeff Goldblum had died, and Michael Jackson’s death.

He laments that, while the McNair news broke on two Nashville stations but “It was a long time (30 minutes or so) before national media picked it up. ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports by their own slogan, didn’t have it. No one did. We were left gasping for more. Is the rumor true? Can anyone confirm? Can police confirm?”

Major media got a little jittery in the past. After 9/11. With other reports that turned into an overcompensation. Fact is, major media can safely report on a rumor as long as it is billed as such. No one has to say that this is confirmed. But people want to know. We get our news on the internet.

We find out about things happening in Iran via Twitter. We find out about Michael Jackson dying… on Twitter. We read blogs that deal with Sarah Palin’s awkwardly bizarre resignation at Alaska governor. We’re not watching your TV stations. We’re not in Nashville. Welcome to the global economy.

Report the damn news and report it as a rumor to hedge your bets. But report the news.

Because I was out and about with the family yesterday, I first saw the news of McNair’s death at YahooNews a half hour or so after it broke nationally and blogged my instant reaction immediately.

I saw reports that Michael Jackson died on Twitter and frantically searched for confirmation.  I did a Breaking News blog post reporting that 1) LA Times had Jackson hospitalized and that 2) several reports that he was dead, all sourced to TMZ, were out.  I updated it shortly thereafter with news that multiple legitimate sources were confirming.

(I saw the reports of Goldblum’s death on Twitter, too, but they were debunked in near-real-time.)

With rare exception, I prefer that the mainstream press report known facts rather than rumors.

People seeing rumors of Jackson’s death on Twitter or TMZ who much cared were presumably searching for confirmation on their own just as I was.  Otherwise, I’m not sure what harm is done to the collective pool of knowledge by having it reported that Jackson was rushed to the hospital — a known fact — and waiting 30 minutes or an hour or so to report that he was dead once that was confirmed.  Conversely, falsely reporting that someone has died has serious consequences.

The McNair story is slowly unfolding as a bizarre soap opera, with alternate reports of murder-suicide and double homicide.  While McNair was undoubtedly an important figure in the world of sports and his murder in the prime of life constitutes breaking news in Nashville and Baltimore (where he played professionally) and for sports pages, I’m not sure what harm there is in taking 30 minutes to gather facts on such a sensitive story.

Indeed, the Goldblum rumor provides a classic cautionary tale.  I for one am rather glad that false reports of Goldblum’s death weren’t flashed on the crawl of every TV show in America.

Like Aaron, I’m a news junkie.  I want my information now.  But unconfirmed rumor is not news; it’s gossip.  If TMZ is wrong about Jackson’s death, nobody will much care; it’s a gossip rag.  If the LAT gets it wrong, though, it loses credibility as a news organization.

There are certainly times when reporting speculation is required.  If, for example, there were reports about an attempt on the life of the president, it’s a national crisis that demands instant reporting.  There were all manner of false reports, for example, when President Reagan was shot, notably the reporting that James Brady had been killed when it turned out he was just horribly wounded.  Similarly, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks demanded 24/7 wall-to-wall coverage and reporting of “facts” as they came in.

Rumors that pop singers and retired athletes have died, however, can go unreported for a few minutes while reporters do some rudimentary fact checking.

Photo by Flickr user Joost Strootman under Creative Commons license.

Hugh Hewitt has come up with a brilliant meme:

“LKM” stands for Larry King Minutes –the number of broadcast minutes that Larry King would devote to your death if it occurred today.  Michael Jackson has set a very high standard, swamping all other coverage from Larry’s show and triggering hours and hours of extra programming from Larry.

Conor Friedersdorf and Andrew Sullivan have already pointed to this, with the latter quipping, “I suspect that neither Hugh nor I would make it past a few seconds. Which is, in so many ways, a relief.” I can easily top that, in that King wouldn’t notice at all.

I’m reminded of a superbly entertaining piece by Matt Labash that I noted in the very earliest days at OTB wherein he was on assignment in Iraq and met two somewhat more famous companions.

When I came back out, [Christopher] Hitchens was having a smoke, and [P.J.] O’Rourke had rejoined him. Watching the two of them, I suddenly had a sinking feeling. If our convoy went up in flames, I wouldn’t even rank in the group obituary. It would read something like, “Found next to Hitchens and O’Rourke was an unidentified crispy critter from the British newspaper, the Evening Standard.”

Heh.

Not sure this is BREAKING NEWS, as CNN does, but it’s amusing nonetheless:

How many people does it take to break the Internet? On June 25, we found out it’s just one — if that one is Michael Jackson.

The biggest showbiz story of the year saw the troubled star take a good slice of the Internet with him, as the ripples caused by the news of his death swept around the globe.

“Between approximately 2:40 p.m. PDT and 3:15 p.m. PDT today, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson,” a Google spokesman told CNET, which also reported that Google News users complained that the service was inaccessible for a time. At its peak, Google Trends rated the Jackson story as “volcanic.”

As sites fell, users raced to other sites: TechCrunch reported that TMZ, which broke the story, had several outages; users then switched to Perez Hilton’s blog, which also struggled to deal with the requests it received.

CNN reported a fivefold rise in traffic and visitors in just over an hour, receiving 20 million page views in the hour the story broke.

Twitter crashed as users saw multiple “fail whales” — the illustrations the site uses as error messages — user FoieGrasie posting, “Irony: The protesters in Iran using twitter as com are unable to get online because of all the posts of ‘Michael Jackson RIP.’ Well done.” The site’s status blog said that Twitter had had to temporarily disable its search results, saved searches and trend topics.

Wikipedia saw a flurry of activity, with close to 500 edits made to Jackson’s entry in less than 24 hours. CNET reported that by 3:15pm PDT, Wikipedia seemed to be “temporarily overloaded.”

And so forth and so on.  It’s amazing that even robust servers can go down with too many simultaneous queries.  One would think that the advent of cloud technologies and redundancies would have ended that by this stage in the Internet’s maturation.  Apparently not.

The only non-Michael Jackson story atop Yahoo News‘ page is “Rhode Island closer to changing state name over slavery.” Not having previously heard Rhode Island was considering a name change — let alone over slavery — I was intrigued.

After reading the story, much less so:

The country’s smallest state has the longest official name: “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

A push to drop “Providence Plantations” from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the “State of Rhode Island.” It’s an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it’s an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island’s tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.

The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.

“It’s high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don’t want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name,” said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.

Of course, said slavery happened in “Rhode Island,” too.   And while I understand that “plantations” conjures up unpleasant imagery, it really doesn’t have anything to do with slavery in this context:

Rhode Island’s unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.

Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.  Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.

In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called “The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.

Opponents of the name charge argue that “plantations” was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.

Considering that I wasn’t even aware of the longer variant of Rhode Island’s name until reading the story, I’m not terribly concerned about this either way.  But the long, unique name is an interesting quirk that naturally spawns questions about the state’s history.  Why change that?

Michael Jackson died yesterday and given that his death was unexpected and that he was arguably the world’s most famous entertainer, one would naturally expect a significant amount of news coverage.  But methinks this is overdoing it a mite:

Amusingly, a misspelled variant of his name (”Micheal Jackson”) is the fourth most popular search right now, beating out Iran.  Alas, “Jeff Goldblum,” who is thankfully still very much alive, trumps “Micheal Jackson” because of a fast-spreading hoax report that he died.

BREAKING: LA Times: Michael Jackson hospitalized – Yahoo News

Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital, a fire department official told the Los Angeles Times. Capt. Steve Ruda said Thursday that Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper.

L. Londell McMillan, a lawyer for Jackson, did not have any information. Messages left for other Jackson associates were not immediately returned.

There are several reports that Jackson has died. They are not official.  Indeed, they all seem to be based on a single report at the celebrity gossip site TMZ.

Howie Kurtz tweets that TMZ “has a good track record on such matters.”

UPDATE: LAT is now reporting Jackson dead as well.  That’s close enough to official for me.  Headline changed accordingly.

Sad news.  While I was never a huge fan of Jackson’s music, he is undeniably among the most important figures in pop history.  His legacy, of course, has been tainted by numerous charges of child molestation and endangerment.  Suffice it to say that he was a musical genius and a very weird dude.

UPDATE: Oddly, as I was updating the post above, CNN sent a “Breaking News” email that “Pop singer Michael Jackson in coma after cardiac arrest.”  This was followed seven minutes later with “Pop singer Michael Jackson has died, according to multiple reports.”  Quite surreal.

UPDATE: CNN has officially confirmed this with the LA County coroner.  Over at Gone Hollywood, Allie observes, “They say it happens in three’s, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson.”  As my wife and others have noted, Fawcett’s passing has been overshadowed in the news cycle by this news.

UPDATE: Richard Gardner reminds me that he posted on the death of Michael Jackson in September 2007.  That, alas, was Michael “The Beer Hunter” Jackson of whom I had previously never heard.

UPDATE: Gone Hollywood has a roundup of Michael Jackson Obituaries.  Also, a report that Michael Jackson died of a prescription drug overdose.  In subsequent posts here, see Michael Jackson News Saturation – Micheal Jackson Tops Iran! and Michael Jackson Dies, Kills Internet.