Media plays Jacko for all he's worth

In April 1945, a week after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was buried, his widow took a train from Washington, D.C., to New York City.

When she reached her apartment in Washington Square, reporters met her outside. They had lots of questions about her future plans, the late president's legacy and all sorts of other things.

Eleanor Roosevelt had four words for them.

"The story is over."

In 1975, on the brand-new "Saturday Night Live," Weekend Update anchor Chevy Chase satirized the coverage of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco by saying week after week that "Franco is still dead."

The story was over.

Of course, things have changed. Stories never end in these days of the 24-hour, Internet-fueled news cycle. Michael Jackson died two weeks ago today, and he is still the No. 1 news story despite everything else that is happening in the world.

For one thing, we are a lot nosier than we were in 1945 or even 1975. Remember the annoying journalist in "Die Hard 2?"

"The people have a right to know everything about everyone all the time."

We're got Perez Hilton, TMZ, the Smoking Gun and a dozen other sites designed to catch every celebrity's most embarrassing moments. We know more about Lindsey Lohan or Britney Spears -- including anatomical details -- than we ever did about any of our presidents.

We attribute qualities to them they don't even have. We ask them what they think about issues, when in some cases they haven't read a book in years or even finished high school.

Michael Jackson made great music, music that touched millions of people and made a difference in their lives. A letter writer to the L.A. Times today said he thought everyone on the planet probably had a favorite Michael Jackson song.

Well, I don't, and I'm pretty sure my wife doesn't either.

I don't think CNN needs to do breaking news updates on discussions of who will raise Jackson's three children, or what his albums are doing on the charts. Those children could be raised by winos and they'd still be better off than most kids in the world because they are rich.

And if Jackson's "Thriller" is the biggest selling album of all time, well, "The Eagles' Greatest Hits" is second and I doubt CNN will go nuts when Don Henley or Glenn Frey pass away.

But as long as there's money to be made and ratings to be won, American television will be chasing every detail of every story -- real and imagined -- about everyone in the world.

It's a shame we can't agree on one thing about Michael Jackson.

The story is over.