Why the Obsession with Paris Hilton?
Bill Haymin
July 03, 2007
By John W. Whitehead
The melodrama surrounding Paris Hilton shows how perverse news reporting has become. It boggles the mind that newsworthy items of great importance are pushed to the background in order to cover someone who impacts society in no positive way and has no obvious talent other than getting in the news.
Who is Paris Hilton? And what has she done to warrant such extensive coverage? Apart from being born to opulent wealth and starring in a homemade sex video, reality TV series, minor film roles and a self-titled music album, there is little that sets this 26-year-old DUI offender apart from the mass of poseurs that haunt the pages of celebrity gossip magazines.
I’m not trying to belittle Hilton, who may be a closet humanitarian when she’s not driving drunk or cat-fighting with the likes of Nicole Richie or Lindsay Lohan. However, as news producers are fond of reminding us, there is only so much airtime available for breaking news (I was once bumped from a major nightly news show in order to make room for breaking news on the death of the Clintons’ dog, Buddy). This leads one to wonder what real news is getting cut so that television news programs and newspapers can devote endless hours and print space to Paris Hilton trivia. Let me count the ways.
Terrorism. According to the Department of Homeland Security, we’re running a Code Orange on our domestic and international flights right now, which means that we’re facing a “high risk of terrorist attacks.” Yet, incredibly, Hilton’s release from jail and subsequent re-imprisonment has received more coverage than the plot to blow up JFK airport.
The war in Iraq. Even with American troops and Iraqi civilians dying on a daily basis, Operation Iraqi Freedom receives minimal coverage by the media. We rarely hear the names of our fallen soldiers—they are treated as the anonymous dead—nor do we hear anything about their lives or family members. Yet we’ve been treated to an excruciating amount of minutiae about Hilton’s first few days in jail—from the dryness of her skin (because there’s no cream in jail) to her attire (an orange and brown jumpsuit) and activities (she plays ping pong when she’s not in her room alone). Hilton’s “horrible experience,” in which she didn’t eat, sleep, was severely depressed and felt like she was “in a cage,” even merited an “exclusive” interview with Barbara Walters.
Operation Enduring Freedom. The war in Afghanistan has been dragging on for close to six years, and yet we rarely hear much about it anymore. This is despite the fact that Congress has appropriated about $510 billion thus far for Iraq, Afghanistan and other security concerns.
The genocide in Darfur. It is estimated that there have been 400,000 deaths and more than two million people forced into substandard refugee camps. Is Paris Hilton more important than the starvation, rape and mass killings of innocent civilians?
AIDS in Africa. According to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, between 1999 and 2000, more people died of AIDS in Africa than in all the wars on that continent, including Angola, Sierra Leone, Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. UNAIDS estimated that worldwide at the end of 2006, there were 39.5 million people living with HIV, 4.3 million new infections of HIV and 2.9 million deaths from AIDS. Sadly, over two-thirds of HIV cases, and over 80% of the deaths, were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Immigration is one of the more staggering problems facing this country in terms of security and its economic future, and yet we only occasionally hear updates on possible legislation. And whatever happened to our supposed rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina? There are people living in tents and on the streets of New Orleans, but how many of us know it? And although many Americans won’t be taking a vacation this summer because they can’t afford the gas prices, there’s little analytical reporting on why we’re getting bilked at the gas pump.
These are just a smattering of the issues that should be getting better coverage but aren’t. And why is that? Largely because we live in a celebrity-obsessed culture where those writing, reporting and producing the news are more concerned with the antics of so-called celebrities such as Paris Hilton than they are with reporting on the issues that affect the lives of mainstream Americans.
But those who are consumed with such trivia are really at fault here. As a result, we no longer know what’s going on in our own country, let alone the world. And it’s a crying shame.
I consider John Whitehead to be a founder of the religious liberties legal movement and have great respect for his work at The Rutherford Institute."
Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel, ACLJ
"John Whitehead is not only one of the nation's most consistent and persistent civil libertarians. He is also a remarkably perceptive illustrator of our popular culture, its insights and dangers."
Nat Hentoff, nationally syndicated columnist and staff writer for the Village Voice
Your writings offer keen analysis and important points for all of us concerned with the drift in our culture. Thanks for your hard work on behalf of freedom.”
Bob Barr, Member of Congress 1995-2003 in a letter to John Whitehead
John W. Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. Whitehead's concern for the persecuted and oppressed led him, in 1982, to establish The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization whose international headquarters are located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Whitehead serves as the Institute’s president and spokesperson, in addition to writing a weekly commentary that is posted on The Rutherford Institute’s website (www.rutherford.org), as well being distributed to several hundred newspapers, and hosting a national public service radio campaign. Whitehead's aggressive, pioneering approach to civil liberties issues has earned him numerous accolades, including the Hungarian Medal of Freedom.
Whitehead serves as a member of the Constitution Project, which seeks to formulate bipartisan solutions to contemporary constitutional and legal issues by combining high-level scholarship and public education. He also serves as a member of the advisory board for the Innocence Commission for Virginia, a nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonpartisan project dedicated to supplementing the ongoing work in Virginia through recommendations to strengthen the reliability of its criminal justice system and to reduce the likelihood of future wrongful convictions.
Whitehead has been the subject of numerous newspaper, magazine and television profiles, ranging from Gentleman's Quarterly to CBS' 60 Minutes. Articles by Whitehead have been printed in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and USA Today, among others.
Whitehead gained international renown as a result of his role as co-counsel in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton. Whitehead continues to speak out in defense of a woman's right to be free from sexual harassment and frequently comments on a variety of legal issues in the national media. He has been interviewed by the following national and international media (partial list): Crossfire, O’Reilly Factor, CNN Headline News, Larry King Live, Nightline, Dateline, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, This Week with Sam and Cokie, Rivera Live, Burden of Proof, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, FOX News Sunday, Hardball, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio, British Sky "Tonight" and "Sunday," TF1 (French TV) and Greek national television.
The author of numerous books on a variety of legal and social issues, as well as pamphlets and brochures providing legal information to the general public, Whitehead has also written numerous magazine and journal articles. In addition, he wrote and directed the documentary video series Grasping for the Wind, as well as its companion book, which focus on key cultural events of the 20th Century. The series received two Silver World Medals at the New York Film and Video Festival and is now available on DVD.
Whitehead has filed numerous amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also been co-counsel in several landmark Supreme Court cases as well. His law reviews have been published in Emory Law Journal, Pepperdine Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Washington and Lee Law Review, Cumberland Law Review, Tulsa Law Journal and the Temple University Civil Rights Law Review.
Born in 1946 in Tennessee, John W. Whitehead earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in 1969 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1974. He served as an officer in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971. Whitehead and his wife have five children.
Further Reading
ARTICLES ABOUT JOHN WHITEHEAD
Conversation: John W. Whitehead
An interview with Today's Pentecostal Evangel
The Dragon Slayer
By Ted Olsen for Christianity Today,
December 7, 1998
A Conspirator for the Constitution
by Nat Hentoff, June 1999
ARTICLES BY JOHN WHITEHEAD
John W. Whitehead's 1973 interview with Bill Clinton (PDF)
How to Watch a Movie
MovieMaker Magazine, Fall 2003
No Abaya for McSally
Liberty Magazine, July/August 2002
John W. Whitehead's Weekly Column
BOOKS BY JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Slaying Dragons
Grasping for the Wind
A Well-Spent Life
Truth Under Fire
The End of Man
The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education
Parents' Rights
Freedom of Religious Expression in Public Universities and High Schools
EXTENDED BIO
Click here.
The Rutherford Institute | Post Office Box 7482 | Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: 434-978-3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM) | Fax: 434-978-1789
General Inquiries staff@rutherford.org | Legal Assistance tristaff@rutherford.org | Technical Comments webdesign@rutherford.org
Privacy Info | Website design by Combhead Productions. | ©2007 The Rutherford Institute
Click for the audio version of this commentary read by John Whitehead.
Publication Guidelines & Reprint Permission
John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact marketing@rutherford.org to be added to the distribution list for the weekly commentary or for any questions relating to reprint permission.
Click here to download a print-quality photograph of Mr. Whitehead.
All other media inquires should be directed to media@rutherford.org.
Sign-up to receive The Rutherford Institute's Insider Report E-newsletter!
Sign-up to receive John W. Whitehead's Weekly Column today!
Sound Off! Tell us what you think about this news story!
Get your free copy of the Bill of Rights!
Support the Fight! Give Today!
Commentary Archive
Recent Victories!
The Rutherford Institute
P.O. Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone :: 434.978.3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern) | Fax :: 434.978.1789
General inquiries:: staff@rutherford.org Legal assistance:: tristaff@rutherford.org
Technical comments :: webmaster@rutherford.org
Presented by Bill Haymin, 2007
The melodrama surrounding Paris Hilton shows how perverse news reporting has become. It boggles the mind that newsworthy items of great importance are pushed to the background in order to cover someone who impacts society in no positive way and has no obvious talent other than getting in the news.
Who is Paris Hilton? And what has she done to warrant such extensive coverage? Apart from being born to opulent wealth and starring in a homemade sex video, reality TV series, minor film roles and a self-titled music album, there is little that sets this 26-year-old DUI offender apart from the mass of poseurs that haunt the pages of celebrity gossip magazines.
I’m not trying to belittle Hilton, who may be a closet humanitarian when she’s not driving drunk or cat-fighting with the likes of Nicole Richie or Lindsay Lohan. However, as news producers are fond of reminding us, there is only so much airtime available for breaking news (I was once bumped from a major nightly news show in order to make room for breaking news on the death of the Clintons’ dog, Buddy). This leads one to wonder what real news is getting cut so that television news programs and newspapers can devote endless hours and print space to Paris Hilton trivia. Let me count the ways.
Terrorism. According to the Department of Homeland Security, we’re running a Code Orange on our domestic and international flights right now, which means that we’re facing a “high risk of terrorist attacks.” Yet, incredibly, Hilton’s release from jail and subsequent re-imprisonment has received more coverage than the plot to blow up JFK airport.
The war in Iraq. Even with American troops and Iraqi civilians dying on a daily basis, Operation Iraqi Freedom receives minimal coverage by the media. We rarely hear the names of our fallen soldiers—they are treated as the anonymous dead—nor do we hear anything about their lives or family members. Yet we’ve been treated to an excruciating amount of minutiae about Hilton’s first few days in jail—from the dryness of her skin (because there’s no cream in jail) to her attire (an orange and brown jumpsuit) and activities (she plays ping pong when she’s not in her room alone). Hilton’s “horrible experience,” in which she didn’t eat, sleep, was severely depressed and felt like she was “in a cage,” even merited an “exclusive” interview with Barbara Walters.
Operation Enduring Freedom. The war in Afghanistan has been dragging on for close to six years, and yet we rarely hear much about it anymore. This is despite the fact that Congress has appropriated about $510 billion thus far for Iraq, Afghanistan and other security concerns.
The genocide in Darfur. It is estimated that there have been 400,000 deaths and more than two million people forced into substandard refugee camps. Is Paris Hilton more important than the starvation, rape and mass killings of innocent civilians?
AIDS in Africa. According to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, between 1999 and 2000, more people died of AIDS in Africa than in all the wars on that continent, including Angola, Sierra Leone, Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. UNAIDS estimated that worldwide at the end of 2006, there were 39.5 million people living with HIV, 4.3 million new infections of HIV and 2.9 million deaths from AIDS. Sadly, over two-thirds of HIV cases, and over 80% of the deaths, were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Immigration is one of the more staggering problems facing this country in terms of security and its economic future, and yet we only occasionally hear updates on possible legislation. And whatever happened to our supposed rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina? There are people living in tents and on the streets of New Orleans, but how many of us know it? And although many Americans won’t be taking a vacation this summer because they can’t afford the gas prices, there’s little analytical reporting on why we’re getting bilked at the gas pump.
These are just a smattering of the issues that should be getting better coverage but aren’t. And why is that? Largely because we live in a celebrity-obsessed culture where those writing, reporting and producing the news are more concerned with the antics of so-called celebrities such as Paris Hilton than they are with reporting on the issues that affect the lives of mainstream Americans.
But those who are consumed with such trivia are really at fault here. As a result, we no longer know what’s going on in our own country, let alone the world. And it’s a crying shame.
I consider John Whitehead to be a founder of the religious liberties legal movement and have great respect for his work at The Rutherford Institute."
Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel, ACLJ
"John Whitehead is not only one of the nation's most consistent and persistent civil libertarians. He is also a remarkably perceptive illustrator of our popular culture, its insights and dangers."
Nat Hentoff, nationally syndicated columnist and staff writer for the Village Voice
Your writings offer keen analysis and important points for all of us concerned with the drift in our culture. Thanks for your hard work on behalf of freedom.”
Bob Barr, Member of Congress 1995-2003 in a letter to John Whitehead
John W. Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. Whitehead's concern for the persecuted and oppressed led him, in 1982, to establish The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization whose international headquarters are located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Whitehead serves as the Institute’s president and spokesperson, in addition to writing a weekly commentary that is posted on The Rutherford Institute’s website (www.rutherford.org), as well being distributed to several hundred newspapers, and hosting a national public service radio campaign. Whitehead's aggressive, pioneering approach to civil liberties issues has earned him numerous accolades, including the Hungarian Medal of Freedom.
Whitehead serves as a member of the Constitution Project, which seeks to formulate bipartisan solutions to contemporary constitutional and legal issues by combining high-level scholarship and public education. He also serves as a member of the advisory board for the Innocence Commission for Virginia, a nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonpartisan project dedicated to supplementing the ongoing work in Virginia through recommendations to strengthen the reliability of its criminal justice system and to reduce the likelihood of future wrongful convictions.
Whitehead has been the subject of numerous newspaper, magazine and television profiles, ranging from Gentleman's Quarterly to CBS' 60 Minutes. Articles by Whitehead have been printed in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and USA Today, among others.
Whitehead gained international renown as a result of his role as co-counsel in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton. Whitehead continues to speak out in defense of a woman's right to be free from sexual harassment and frequently comments on a variety of legal issues in the national media. He has been interviewed by the following national and international media (partial list): Crossfire, O’Reilly Factor, CNN Headline News, Larry King Live, Nightline, Dateline, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, This Week with Sam and Cokie, Rivera Live, Burden of Proof, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, FOX News Sunday, Hardball, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio, British Sky "Tonight" and "Sunday," TF1 (French TV) and Greek national television.
The author of numerous books on a variety of legal and social issues, as well as pamphlets and brochures providing legal information to the general public, Whitehead has also written numerous magazine and journal articles. In addition, he wrote and directed the documentary video series Grasping for the Wind, as well as its companion book, which focus on key cultural events of the 20th Century. The series received two Silver World Medals at the New York Film and Video Festival and is now available on DVD.
Whitehead has filed numerous amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also been co-counsel in several landmark Supreme Court cases as well. His law reviews have been published in Emory Law Journal, Pepperdine Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Washington and Lee Law Review, Cumberland Law Review, Tulsa Law Journal and the Temple University Civil Rights Law Review.
Born in 1946 in Tennessee, John W. Whitehead earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in 1969 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1974. He served as an officer in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971. Whitehead and his wife have five children.
Further Reading
ARTICLES ABOUT JOHN WHITEHEAD
Conversation: John W. Whitehead
An interview with Today's Pentecostal Evangel
The Dragon Slayer
By Ted Olsen for Christianity Today,
December 7, 1998
A Conspirator for the Constitution
by Nat Hentoff, June 1999
ARTICLES BY JOHN WHITEHEAD
John W. Whitehead's 1973 interview with Bill Clinton (PDF)
How to Watch a Movie
MovieMaker Magazine, Fall 2003
No Abaya for McSally
Liberty Magazine, July/August 2002
John W. Whitehead's Weekly Column
BOOKS BY JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Slaying Dragons
Grasping for the Wind
A Well-Spent Life
Truth Under Fire
The End of Man
The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education
Parents' Rights
Freedom of Religious Expression in Public Universities and High Schools
EXTENDED BIO
Click here.
The Rutherford Institute | Post Office Box 7482 | Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: 434-978-3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM) | Fax: 434-978-1789
General Inquiries staff@rutherford.org | Legal Assistance tristaff@rutherford.org | Technical Comments webdesign@rutherford.org
Privacy Info | Website design by Combhead Productions. | ©2007 The Rutherford Institute
Click for the audio version of this commentary read by John Whitehead.
Publication Guidelines & Reprint Permission
John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact marketing@rutherford.org to be added to the distribution list for the weekly commentary or for any questions relating to reprint permission.
Click here to download a print-quality photograph of Mr. Whitehead.
All other media inquires should be directed to media@rutherford.org.
Sign-up to receive The Rutherford Institute's Insider Report E-newsletter!
Sign-up to receive John W. Whitehead's Weekly Column today!
Sound Off! Tell us what you think about this news story!
Get your free copy of the Bill of Rights!
Support the Fight! Give Today!
Commentary Archive
Recent Victories!
The Rutherford Institute
P.O. Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone :: 434.978.3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern) | Fax :: 434.978.1789
General inquiries:: staff@rutherford.org Legal assistance:: tristaff@rutherford.org
Technical comments :: webmaster@rutherford.org
Presented by Bill Haymin, 2007
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