Grace?

Nancy Grace - the 'Legally Blond' quasi-journalist that CNN employs (among their army of quasi-journo's) is being sued by the family of a woman who committed suicide after appearing on Grace's program. If you've seen Grace in action, you know that she is as harsh and abrasive as an interviewer can be - even by today's standards.

And I guess that's the point - what are today's standards? The woman - Melinda Duckett - had lost her son, two-year-old Trenton, who was (and remains) "missing." She had agreed to be on Grace's show under the understanding that the (audio) appearance would help find her missing some.

Instead, Grace grilled her and implied that she was involved in the disappearance. Did you kill your two year old son today, bitch?

And Melinda couldn't take it. She killed herself before the segment was to air on CNN. And guess what? They still aired the segment, knowing that their subject had just killed herself.

All class.

This is the ethical soup that we live in today. Or rather, the ethical soup that is part of the media meal that we consume.

I don't know what happened to Trenton. Perhaps nobody ever will - I hope that's not true. But I do know what happened to his mother.

Nancy Grace is a lawyer. She made a name for herself as a prosecutor. She's become a major media figure who tangles daily with criminals, criminal attorneys, prosecutors, and other media types. Innocent or otherwise, what chance did Melinda Duckett have on her program?

In the past, she might have had a fair hearing on an unbiased program examining the disappearance. But where does a show like that exist anymore?

We consume this stuff everyday - it's like having a mental Big Mac for lunch. Grace used all her well-honed skills to pressure Duckett into breaking down and confessing on the air. Is that what we watch TV for? And regardless of our viewing choices, is this what should be broadcast?

It's the thugishness of George Bush's America. It's the Karl Rove attack strategy in living colour. If it's okay to 'Swift Boat' John Kerry, why not go after Melinda Duckett the same way?

But why is either okay? What has the media become? When did they stop reporting on the sideshow and become part of it?

That's a lot of questions. I guess the Grace thing bothers me because shooting fish in a barrel has become part of the entertainment industry. Do you think any of the celebs getting "Punk'd" actually enjoy the experience? But screw them - they're rich and famous - and they no that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

There seems to be no floor to the debasement of the airwaves. I'm totally against censorship of all kinds, and I'm not advocating it as a solution to the Grace problem. I wish that we could self-censor the garbage shows like Grave to the extent that nobody would watch them.

Let's look at it from the other side: there are "broadcasting standards." You can't show an execution. You can't show extreme violence or pornography on TV, and we can all agree to that. What more can we agree to without abridging free speech?

Perhaps simple truth in labeling, like there is on all food packages here in Canada. Why not categorize shows with a type and quality rating, and keep that on-screen at all times, like they do with NFL scores during games? Let Grace - or O'Reilly or the rest of the living dead - keep talking, under a banner that reads:

Warning - this program has been rated EXTREMELY LOW QUALITY. The
material presented is ENTIRELY UNRELIABLE and NO CONCLUSIONS SHOULD BE MADE
BASED ON WHAT IS BEING PRESENTED.

For factual material related to these topics, please got to TrueTV.com, or
turn to the FACT NETWORK for the truth.

Of course, that might hurt ad revenue, so forget I mentioned it.