Ted Turner has complained that complained that CNN spends too much time on perverts. The irony of that statement aside, I think he may have hit the ol’ bullseye here. These networks are in a tough spot, granted, trying to find programming for the entire day. But what seems to happen more often than not is they’ll find some sensationalistic story and run with it. Thus we learn more about JonBenet Ramsey, Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, and the obligatory random missing person. Not that missing person stories aren’t tragic, it’s just that there are a goodish number of them and the media circus is usually there just to generate ratings.

This epidemic isn’t confined to 24-hour news networks either. Newspapers love to get in on the act, as do most news magazines. The internet can be just as bad. Drudge oftentimes links to interesting stories, but just as often he links to trivial crap about Tom Cruise’s oddball behavior.

The chief problem is that people soak this stuff up. All media has an ideology behind it, but it also has a bottom line. Only the most fanatical are willing to sacrifice profits for propaganda, most need to keep their head above water. As long as the populace continues to be riveted by this trash, media will continue to publish it.