Is the Media Celebration of Stalkers a New Trend?

Public figures have come to expect and accept a degree of unwanted attention and even stalking. In an industry where success depends largely on a popularity built on accessibility, people in the public eye quickly become aware that their every move is monitored, photographed, reported, and discussed.

Unfortunately, this gives the mentally unstable unprecedented access and ability to not only reach out and touch, but reach out and harm. 

Until recently, the media fell into either the journalist category, reporting the court cases and unfortunate after math of violence and even death perpetrated by stalkers or the tabloid category, providing the gory details. 

Today however, I read an article in the New York Daily News that not only blurred the lines between journalism and tabloid tattle, but actually took the side of the stalker against a famous victim in an effort to titillate. 

For four pages, the article, which featured a huge picture of the smiling, blonde, stalker sipping cocktails, detailed the allegations of the woman, including an affair, pregnancy, abortion, etc. against Brian Cashman, the married General Manager of the Yankees Baseball Team. 

The article, which includes numerous threats made by the woman, also features a photo of Cashman who was recently served divorce papers by his wife, citing extramarital affairs. 

Not until the last paragraph of the article do the authors include the fact that this woman is wanted for two outstanding harassment warrants, is currently on probation for stalking in New Jersey, and apparently stalked her ex-boyfriend. Her own mother called the police recently due to her behavior and threats and her own psychiatrist has classes her as a psychotic danger to herself and others.

The fact that the authors of this article decided to craft what is essentially a character assassination against a public figure, using the extremely dangerous activities and threats of a deranged woman is really unconscionable. This is the online version of the Princess Diana crash. Desperate to not only "report" tragedies, but also have a hand in creating them, the authors have set a new low in journalist standards.