Sarah Hepola at Salon makes an interesting link between the tragic death of Heath Ledger and the sagging demand for celebrity gossip:
The year kicked off on January 22 with the shocking accidental death of Heath Ledger. The story had all the familiar and sordid mixings of juicy tabloid tragedy: Drugs! Depression! A heartbroken (and famous) ex-wife! An Olsen twin! And yet, Ledger’s death wasn’t fun, wasn’t funny, wasn’t the kind of downward spiral whose images you pass around like Christmas snapshots — images like, say, a baldBritney Spears banging on an SUV with an umbrella or Lindsay Lohan passed out in a car. No, the demise of Heath Ledger was dark, baffling, sad.
Anecdotally I tend to agree. Ledger’s death packed an emotional punch which I had never experienced in the context of an incident involving a celebrity. I remember calling my wife immediately.
