Nadya Suleman: Has She Turned Media on Its Head?

Ask anyone who has not been living under a rock the past few weeks how Nadya Suleman is, and you will likely receive plenty of answers. Octomom will probably be the most popular.

Other answers may be "the woman who had plastic surgery to look like Angelina" or "the woman with 14 kids all under the age of eight."

More brutal responses could be "the nutcase who wanted a large family, and drove her parents to bankruptcy in the process," or "the highly selfish woman who sought to have more children than she could possibly care for or need."

What my response may be, though, would be more along the lines of the following: the woman who in essence turned media on its head. In fact, instead of being exploited by the media through a bizarre story, Nadya has created her own newsworthy story and exploited the media to drive publicity.

This story, for that reason alone, is truly fascinating. Here an unknown woman, with meager means or notoriety, has managed to become an internationally famous person. In fact, she will continue to seek and create publicity, all through acts that many deem completely self-seeking.

The media has compromised so many of its journalistic standards in recent years, though, that it now is faced with a conundrum in that unstable people can now go and create their own media sensation.

The hunted in essence have become the hunters. Do those in the reputable media outlets not bow their heads in embarrassment that their profession has increasingly become blurred with the tabloids?

And, why do the big networks and anchors not take a stand, and stop refusing to report on stories such as this one? Do they have no standards anymore?

If anything, the Nadya Suleman story is pathetic in its own right. I truly feel for the many children who were brought into this world by a sick woman who is not prepared or equipped to care for them properly.

But, on a societal level, there is something more pathetic about this story, and that is the media's burning desire to chase after, and be manipulated by, a human train wreck. And, that they have allowed Nadya Suleman to become her own kind of publicity machine.

Surely the Nadya Suleman coverage is some kind of low for us. Let's hope so because I cannot think of it getting much worse than the ongoing international news associated with this story.

Shame on those who know better than to report about this woman. And, shame on us for paying attention.