O.J. Simpson is once again in the news. This time, it’s because of allegations of kidnapping and robbery stemming from a Sept. 13 confrontation with sports memorabilia collectors in a hotel room in Las Vegas.As the media keep me updated on the latest developments in the story, I start to wonder how long the trial will last.Don’t let this mislead you – I have no interest in this story at all.I’m just afraid of what it is I’m not being told every day so that I have time to hear all about Simpson’s legal troubles.You see, his last trial was the longest in California’s history, lasting 252 days. Countless hours were devoted to televising the trial not just on one channel, but on several channels simultaneously.That meant that a lot of important news was put on the back burner so that I could watch Simpson try and cram his hand into a glove that was obviously not his size, or Detective Mark Furhman answer questions about whether or not he had ever used a racial epithet. The trial’s broadcast, however, was only responsible for a portion of the news I missed out on. During evening news broadcasts, there were endless recaps of the day’s developments, which further depleted the amount of time available for other news stories.Already in this new episode of the O.J. Simpson show, with a trial nowhere in site yet, news that is both important and relevant is being pushed to the side so we may bask in endless drivel about Simpson,For example, Erwin Chemerinsky, well-known expert on Constitutional law, was offered a job as dean of a new law school at University of California, Irvine, but was then abruptly un-offered the position due to him being “too politically controversial,” according to Michael V. Drake, chancellor at UC Irvine.This, to me, is newsworthy. It stirs up a healthy debate and is a struggle in which the outcome could redefine the laws regarding the subject. Should someone’s political ideology be a factor when considering them for a job?Where’s the healthy debate in the Simpson Case? Why should we have to listen to this garbage?I am asking that real journalists everywhere do the right thing and avoid over-reporting this and other meaningless Hollywood news stories.Leave those stories to be picked up by Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Star Magazine and all the rest of the entertainment news shows and magazines.That way, I can benefit daily from a national media that present a range of important news stories that are both relevant and informative to the general public, without having to fish for it in a sea of Hollywood trash.
