Friday, June 26, 2009

Diana all over again

I've been amazed at the scenes show from outside the hospital in LA where Michael Jackson died, astonished at the devotion still shown to him given that he'd released only three albums in the last twenty years and especially given the publicity surrounding allegations of child abuse.

It's going to be Diana all over again, isn't it, although I guess American TV will feel the brunt of it. BBC News 24 was certainly given it complete coverage until the early hours of this morning - nothing else happened in the world during that time of course - but I see there's been a distinct lack of paranoia surrounding his death. No rumours of foul play, no sense of paranoia.

He was one of a generation of truely global stars, people who are part charicature, part phenomena from the golden age of broadcast TV. Now with the spread of the internet, web 2.0 and user created content I doubt we'll see another Michael Jackson, for good or ill.

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