A Tragic Event widely recognized this past week is the death of Amy Winehouse. The 27 year old British Singer was found dead in her London apartment on July 23rd. The Death of this world famous singer has been streaming through the media, via twitter, facebook, television, and worldwide newspapers, yet not one source can openly admit the cause of her decease.
According to the BBC news, reasons for Winehouses death "was investigated by police, and determined as unsuspicious." After determining the investigation as unsuspicious, the article proceeds to declare that "results of further toxicology tests could take up to four weeks." Without the toxicology tests, how can the death scene be ruled out so freely as unsuspicious? I find that the BBC news is a media source that doesn't focus so much on the important aspects of the case, rather on the unnecessary details such as current tweets related to the subjects death, followed by quotes of other singers praising Amys career. The BBC news doesn't seem like the most reliable source of media, especially in a case like this one.
The New York Times on the other hand, provides a deeper analysis on the event of Amy Winehouses death, and is written with more emotion and depth. The Times as well, declares the reasons for her death as "not immediately know," and claims that "at this early stage it is being treated as unknown." Though the times is dismissing any knowledge regarding the reasons of Amys death, this media source insinuates the involvement of drugs. The relationship between fame and drugs is mentioned within the article, as well as her previous drug history, and public arrests. Unlike the BBC, the New York Times seems like it has all the information, but choses to share it with the reader in a more discrete manner.
Believe it or not, the newspaper that is known for its briefness, written for those with "30-second attention spans," was the article that i found the most appealing, providing a thorough amount of information. Though it doesnt offer any more answers than the other two sources, the USA Today provides the most gossip relating to Amy Winehouses Death. the USA Today recognizes Winehouses past tabloid coverage, and coins it as 'inspiring.' Her past newsworthy scandals are revived in this article, leaving the reader with an indirect notion that her death was drug related.
Perez Hilton, one of the most popular online media sources, openly states that drugs arent responsable for the singers death, rather it was brought on by a massive seizure. Though its not the most reliable, this online gossip column is less censored than the nationally published newpapers, revealing more information in a more truthful respect.
Each and every media source has a different way in depicting and relaying breaking news information. A single story can be dissected in many different ways, and the news source is responsible for determining what to share with the rest of the world.
After searching for articles on the passing of Amy Winehouse on BBC and the New York Times, I found both to be fairly objective in describing Winehouse's death. When BBC described that Amy's death was not suspicious, they were directly referencing the opinion of police investigators. Essentially, the report given by the investigators is part of the news, which doesn't necessarily mean that BBC itself is an unreliable source. Considering the lack of information concerning the death of the singer, I find Perez Hilton's commentary that her death was brought on by a massive seizure to be less reliable. Was it a seizure induced by an overdose? Did she even have a seizure to begin with? I agree that sources like the Hilton website are less censored, however this does not imply that the news written on the site is truthful. Winehouse was known for her amazing voice, and she was also known (unfortunately) for her addiction. Although the sources you mentioned reveal that an overdose may be the cause of her death, it is clear that this cannot be verified until the toxicology results are revealed. At the same time, the inclusion of this possible cause-of-death does not make the articles or the newspapers that they are written in any less valid. I really enjoyed reading what you had to say. By the way, here's a link to a blog entry written by Russell Brand
ReplyDeleteafter Amy's passing. Quite interesting, in my opinion!
http://www.russellbrand.tv/2011/07/for-amy/
Russell Brand, Lady Gaga, & some other stars have said in interviews that they knew Amy was on a week-long binge & had serious drug & alcohol problems.....so why didn't they stop her? It seems weird that they would admit this to sources like Rolling Stone.
ReplyDeleteAlso, doesn't it seem like this news completely overshadowed the tragedy in Norway? Not that this isn't sad, but 90+ people being gunned down versus one person who died possibly killed herself with drugs and/or alcohol should not be competing with each other.
Celebrity news will almost always overshadow tragedy, especially tragedy that occurs in other countries. And it doesn't really matter who knew about her supposed week long binge, people (family) have been trying to get Amy Winehouse help ever since her ex husband introduced her to drugs, she didn't want the help. She was an adult and she could do whatever she wanted. If she wanted the drugs and alcohol, all she had to do was find someone to sell it to her. And considering that she was a celebrity, people don't care that she had an addiction, all they wanted was her money.
ReplyDeleteFirst, as Ioana mentioned, I don't know if I would consider BBC unreliable for saying that the death was unsuspicious (perhaps they simply meant unsuspicious in terms of murder by another person?). Also, I love Perez but I definitely have to wonder how accurate his information is -- and whether accuracy is even one of his main goals. People love him for his attitude and style of writing (also for the gossip) but even if he's wrong, he won't face much backlash (besides a few angry comments). News sources like the NYTimes and BBC on the other hand, face much more dire consequences. So maybe that's why they censor/inhibit themselves before making such statements.
ReplyDeleteAmy Winehouse's behavior dominated tabloid headlines for months during her musical fame. These reported drug and alcohol benders only fueled her fame and her and became part of her identity. Although this behavior was condemned by the media they also brought the artist constant attention on a wide scale. From the Winehouse's perspective extreme drug and alcohol abuse may have been seen as a necessary element of her fame. Thus, she had little incentive to stop abusing drugs since her fame seemed to dangle on that aspect of her life.
ReplyDeleteAmy Winehouse's tragic death provides another example of media's drive for profit eclipsing the individual's need for actual help. Many people love Amy's music but the vast majority are exposed to her through captions under a picture of her on multiple substances.