Media Whores

Having octuplets that live through the first week of life is a medical miracle. As a matter of fact, there have only been two sets of octuplets born in the United States. The most recent set was born on Jan. 26 in southern California to a single mother on welfare that already has six children under 7 years old. The story about Nadya Suleman’s octuplets has made national news.

Most editors would decide that this story is very newsworthy. It definitely has characteristics such as novelty, conflict and currency. If I were an editor I would have definitely run the story in my publication. I thought it was amazing. I didn’t know anything about the family, but thought it was incredible that all eight newborns had survived. I continued to read articles about the octuplets and their mother as they were published. This is when I became very disgusted.

According to an interview on “Larry King Live” the mother did want to have multiples, but her reasoning became a bit questionable as the story progressed. On the Feb. 2, 2009 episode King brought up a very disturbing point. Apparently, the mother wants to sell her story to multiple media outlets and make money off the birth and life of these poor children! There have been other shows such as “John and Kate Plus 8” and “Seventeen Kids and Counting,” both on TLC, that have highlighted families with many children; but does that mean we need another one?

This is when I think an editor has a tough decision to make. Should he or she give into the woman’s idea of selling her story to media companies to make money? Is it really worth the story being published across the country to fund her selfish ways? What does the editor do? I mean it is news, but it is news for the wrong reason. We are not in the business to make people rich. If she wants to make money, she can go sell her story to a supermarket tabloid, NOT the New York Times.

After hearing that she wanted to make money off her unusual delivery, I decided I would stop publishing stories about her. She is nothing more than a “media whore” that wanted to do something that she knew she could profit from.

Instead of publishing stories about how the children are doing, I think I would expose the truth! Tell the people her ridiculous plot to use newspapers, magazines and television stations to make money after having octuplets. I don’t see how anyone could ever rationalize having eight babies at once just to sell the story to try and make millions.