John Mark Karr’s bogus confession to killing Jonbenet Ramsey is one of the most annoying and unnecessarily over-hyped news stories in American television history. Endless inside scoops and hours of supposedly exclusive coverage left no news channel playing innocent in the gluttonous glamorization of this case. I awoke irritated this morning to a scrolling reel unveiling the latest jazz. Weeks of layered coverage and bold printed proclamations of “Solved!” splashing magazine covers are now obsolete and embarrassingly noted as pre-mature.

Since when did loud-mouthed possibility equal fact? Truth is now often lost in mirages of opinion and loosely based theories. Common sense and basic intuition might have prevented the media frenzy that rode out the public with clamoring for any stitch of connection to sate the ratings appetite. Karr was, with blatant obviousness, a sadistic sick puppy, beginning with the fact that his two wives were both young teens. Clearly he has a predator-like fascination with little girls. His behavior proves odd and erratic in all facets, though, not just pedophiliac regards. Reports confirm he’s been fired from several jobs and made more than a few co-workers and acquaintances uncomfortable, to say the least.

This bit of recap elicits that he should never have been taken so seriously. An inarguably mentally unstable person’s word cannot garner a respect worth such news uproar. Ignorance and irresponsibility catered to the lavish reports on this case which we now see, largely, wasted our time. The public audience may understandably accept the confession and go on, but for entire empires of journalism to print and cover the confession so ravenously is not tolerable. Look at the fame Karr acquired, however negatively, and recognize how easily another loony could take our attention off authentic concerns. It’s frightening how simply attention is lost on the ooze of gossip.

Because news has overgrown it’s place in society, even the juiciest lemon of a story is squeezed dry. The dilemma revolves around keeping news fresh and exciting 24 hours a day and frankly, that is impossible. Constant coverage of the same event, rarely expounding any new particularly relevant details, skews public perception. No longer do you read a print news story, discuss it and form an opinion. Now, you can’t even have an opinion because everyone is telling you what just is, grabbing quotes from whoever happens to e-mail a reply fastest. America is un-phased and thinking relatively less.

These news networks claw their way to the latest details first, while keeping pleasant composure on screen. But the reporting race leaves no room for error and that is seriously scary for the public. Deadlines, editing, re-writes, fact checks, research, confirmations and reliable sources; these have lost a grave significance in the fluster. It is not enough to hope you go it right. This is our constitutional right and you have a responsibility to get it right. Without accuracy, journalistic repute dies. Without good journalism, the country is lost in the chaos of information overload and misconception. You see, journalism is a fundamental necessity for the clarity of anything worth knowing in this great democracy.

It’s difficult to decipher hard news and editorial news these days, especially for the average American worker just trying to keep up at the end of the day. Too many people in the business do not grasp the serious consequences of irresponsible journalism. I’m not saying that the things reported on John Mark Karr were false, but they certainly overtook our television screens to an obnoxious extreme. That extreme pushed out other, seemingly less important news, news that might have been better placed. A story like the Karr case should have been reported, but tamed and properly prioritized.

I hope, for the sake of untarnished citizen perception, that news mediums take a situation like this and re-evaluate the way they demolish such stories with an untamed fervor. Change is difficult when the news monster has steadily increased but the roots of good journalism still exist at the heart of American news and they can prevail.