CNN is back at it again today. Maybe they read my post yesterday about how strange it was for them to parade around uncredited content and pictures from Ashley Alexandra Dupri’s MySpace page as if they had actually interviewed this poor woman, but for whatever reason, their lead story this morning is nothing but more “quotes” and content lifted directly from Dupri’s MySpace and Facebook accounts. (For the record, Dupri is the high-priced escort at the center of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal.)
With a sickeningly obvious tone of glee, CNN’s Mallory Simon wrote an “article” which is, literally, a detailed play-by-play of the events on Dupri’s MySpace and Facebook pages. She reports on Dupri’s Facebook ’status updates,’ and tries to psychoanalyze what was going on in Durpi’s head when she wrote them.
For example:
“Early Thursday morning, it appears Dupre realized she needed to make some changes to alter what the public would be able to know about her.”
And surely CNN’s round-the-clock profile stalking had nothing to do with that realization. The whole article is just a big list of things like that. “Early Thursday morning,” “At 3:00pm,” and finally: “By 2:30pm, her MySpace and Facebook pages were gone.”
Yes, that’s right. Dupri was chased off the internet by tabloid journalism — and yes, CNN’s extravagance with the story is significant, because they represent one of the most heavily-trafficked news sites on the web. And Mallory Simon just sat there and watched her updates roll by, taking notes and sketching out ways to somehow make Dupri’s friend requests a legitimate story.
CNN does go out of its way to quote one actual person, though. It’s a Law Professor (oh, god) from American University (Jesus Christ). And he’s happy to inform CNN and you, the reader, that Dupri has no right to privacy and deserves no respect from the media. After all, she opened up a MySpace account — why would she ever expect that information not to be exploited for free by mainstream media outlets?
That same law professor has some snarky comments about Dupri’s interest in singing, and her frustration that people were flooding her with hate mail:
“Unfortunately, you can’t say, ‘Oh well, I didn’t want that kind of publicity, I only wanted positive publicity,’”
I wonder what kind of publicity the professor wants.
Simon even goes so far as to detail how much she loves to investigate her subjects on the internet:
“Facebook and MySpace have become one of the go-to background tools for journalists in the past couple of years, allowing members of the press to put a face to the subject of their story and find out more about them.”
Look, I’m all for open source media, fair use, and free content — I think we should all visit social networks and interact with one another. And I’m well aware that CNN is within its rights to exploit this sort of information. It’s hypocrisy I’m against. It’s the fact that CNN would probably send me a cease and desist letter if they saw their logo on my blog. And exploitation, no matter what the source, is unethical. CNN can be my guest to write any number of stories that cite MySpace and Facebook pages — as long as they’re part of actual stories.
These last two were not actual stories. They were barely tabloid stories. I hope CNN gives some of their ad revenue from this week to that poor woman, who had to close up her social media accounts (which she was using to promote herself and build an audience for her non-prostitute ventures) because of all the hate mail and spam messages CNN’s white, middle-aged demographic started to send her.
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WHAT HAPPENED WAS MOST UNFORTUNATE. BUT WHAT THIS YOUNG LOVELY LADY DID WAS NOT ACDCEPTABLE BUT PERHAPS UNDERSTANDABLE BUT HER LIFE HAS BEEN IRREVOCABLY BEEN ALTERED FOR THE WORSE FOREVER, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS. IT WAS THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, NOW EX GOVERNOR THAT DID THE REAL WRONG, AND HE TOO AND HIS WHOLE FAMILYN WILL PAY THE PRICE. LEAVE THIS POOR GIRL ALONE, ..BOB
I don’t understand this. I do not understand why people who live for this kind of information don’t realize they are sick too. What is the media craze about her. She is not the one who is a public servant. Could we exploit you if a mass murderer was caught after accidentally crashing into your car? She is one in millions and the media has ruined her life. I would be afraid I would burn for an eternity in Hell for doing that to someone.
You have GOT to be kidding me. This girl is a whore by trade. She solicited herself as a prostitute. She posted on public pages and now it is a crime to draw attention to what she already posted publically? OMG, you defenders are disgusting. She deserves nothing but negative publicity for her involvement in an illegal activity. She is no victim. She wanted to make a lot of money of of her illfound fame.
criminals are being lil sissys now?? come on people get a damn clue. dont do the crime f ya cant handel the time, the rest of us out here get into deep crap and we dont cry like some lil bitches
criminals are being lil sissys now?? come on people get a damn clue. dont do the crime if ya cant handel the time, the rest of us out here get into deep crap and we dont cry like some lil bitches
you defenders of this WHORE crack me up! She posted herself all over Myspace, which she couldve made her page PRIVATE had she not wanted the attention…Im sure the extra talk on CNN about her myspace increased her “clients” aka JOHNS ten fold! what a JOKE. This woman has no morals, no self worth at all, and no qualms whatsoever about being party to ruining a marriage and another woman’s life but yet we’re supposed to feel sorry for her now because of her PUBLIC myspace and facebook accounts being talked about? No different from the “Tot Mom” or any other criminal with a myspace these days. I LOVE how if the chick is decent looking we’re supposed to roll over and accept her crimes. Disgusting.