RANT - Anna Nicole Smith, Why Do I Care?

Warning: This is a rant. This does not relate to your personal finances. However, it does relate to the sad state of news reporting and the general news reading public in the United States.

Why do we care about Anna Nicole Smith, any more than any other random woman who died from a drug overdose? Why is that we celebrate a woman who goes by a pseudonym, spent her life whoring herself out, was on drugs her whole life, and died that way as well?

The only other time we saw this outpouring of random support was for Princess Di, and how in the world can you compare a tragic death of a charitable, popular, and ill-fated member of a love triangle to a drug-infused, Southern "belle" (very loose term for Smith), whose only interest was in making a name for herself, at any cost?

I just don't get it.

How can the death of this woman beat out news about genocide in Darfur, civilian deaths in Iraq, and a slumping housing market as the lead story?

News outlets always claim they lead with what readers want to see. Question: do any of you actually care? I don't.