It's Official - Journalism at CNN is DOA!

Anna Nicole Smith is dead!

Forget the war in Iraq. Forget global warming. Forget unity in Gaza, the psycho astronaut or the suffering Darfur. A former Playboy model who for the last 13 years has been famous for, uh, for being fat, uh, golddigging a millionaire, or, um, taking drugs and going ballistic on a really stupid reality show...she's dead!

Yes, it's was everybody's top story today - especially on CNN. And I'm totally disgusted.

Paula Zahn pre-empted what would have been a really interesting show on religion featuring Richard Dawkins to devote the entire hour to Anna Nichole Smith's death. The thing is, in the first 30 seconds she covered everything there was to know. But she goes to a reporter LIVE at the hotel in Florida, who goes through the timeline and questions the actions of everyone involved. Then Paula grills her to make sure they are completely clear on what they don't know. This is followed by a LIVE report from a reporter at the hospital. They go to an interview with a "witness" who saw the ambulance arrive at the hospital. He describes how Ms. Smith looked on the gurney, down to how much of her body was covered by the blanket on top of her. This is cutting edge journalism, folks.

What amazes me is how they managed to fill an hour when, once again, everyone kept saying "we don't know."

Nancy Grace simultaneously on CNN Headline News covered the story "in depth." She had two expert guests who proceeded to speculate on what drugs Anna Nicole might have taken and whether her insurance would pay out if it turns out this was either a suicide or homicide. WHAT!?!? "Why was she travelling with a nurse?" "Are you aware that one of her bodyguards is also a nurse?" "Could her death be related to the recent death of her 20-year old son?" "Where is her infant, and what will become of the baby now?"

Then they bring on their medical expert, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who discusses whether or not Anna Nicole's heart might have given out due to her battle with weight, drugs and stress.

CNN has no shame and as far as I'm concern, no right to call itself a "news" organization. They are no better than the horrid tabloids that invade people's lives and spread lies when they have no facts. The fact is that this "celebrity" died and nobody knows what happened or why yet. To devote a full hour of programming devoted to speculation and uneducated guesses is criminal.

But I'll bet they got their highest ratings of the year. We should also be ashamed.