Media coverage of Britney Spears: F-
A Los Angeles court ordered former pop princess Britney Spears to give up custody of her two children, Sean Preston Spears, 2, and Jayden James Spears, 1, to her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, until further notice, Monday.
The front pages of highly trafficked news and entertainment Web sites such as Yahoo! and CNN were immediately plastered with the news.
Wednesday’s Spears’ news garnered just as much attention on the same sites when it was ruled that Spears would have visitation rights during the temporary separation.
Spears’ poor parenting skills, Cheetos addiction and panty-less antics are usually relegated to breaking news only for bloggers and commentators on sites such as Perez Hilton or Pink is the New Blog, which aren’t exactly paragons of journalistic integrity.
While a select few may care about the future of the "most adorable mistakes you will ever see," CNN.com could have had a much greater impact reporting on the future of millions of children with the news of President Bush’s veto on expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
These are the same bona fide news sites that were the first to report the Shasta vs. Oregon Duck video more than a week after it happened.
Here’s hoping that CNN staffers, like "childrens," do learn.
Smithsonian Magazine: A +
Smithsonian’s special issue for Fall 2007, America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences : 37 under 36, hits shelves this month.
The publication chronicles the advances and impacts the leaders and visionaries of tomorrow have made on our culture. It goes to show that there is indeed hope for the future of America, if these people are to be the leaders and not the panty-less wonders that garner more attention.
One featured individual is Bronx middle school principal Ramon Gonzales.
Gonzales directly affected the futures of underprivileged children facing poverty when he opened a school that helped students prepare for "careers kids could raise a family on."
Gonzales’ curriculum, which came about after researching urban gangs, focuses on financial services and tech support.
Britney Spears did not, however, make the list.
