Those of you who know me or have read previous entries to this blog know that I am, at heart, an idealist. I like things the way they should be.
Unfortunately, I'm often dissapointed.

This Sara Evans situation is out of control.

You have the right wing bashing her for filing for divorce.
You have the left wing blaming the problem on the couple being Republicans.
You have fans supporting her and trashing her without full knowledge of the details.
You have fans bashing her husband Craig....again without full knowledge of the details.
You have Kenny Chesney and Sara's dance partner Tony dragged into the mess.
Then you have an artist trying to avoid damage to promising and successful career.
And you also have an aspiring politician trying to avoid scandal.

THEN you get the media (yes, I realize that I'm media, too) who are salivating over all the above listed storylines.

The media - and their advertisers- win in this battle.

Sara and Craig may win with 15 minutes of fame outside of Country Music circles.
Their kids?
Well, they're the ones getting the raw end of this. No matter who's at fault.

Why are the details out in the open? Why should we (media and the public) be privy to personal details that could potentially ruin the youth of Sara and Craig's kids?
Because she's a celebrity? Because a celebrity's life is fair game?
Yep.

But if you watch our show you'll see that we don't usually follow these kinds of stories.

Would it improve our ratings? Maybe. Would those ratings translate to higher advertiser dollars to our show? Maybe.
Other entertainment shows and tabloids have to cover this kind of scandal to get good ratings.
We want good ratings. We won't stay on the air without them.
Will we spread second, third, or often fourth-hand gossip and personal legal disputes to get them?
No.

If you watch our show this week, you might find a bit of contradiction to this philosophy.

In our new episode, we do touch on the Sara saga.
We mention the fact that she dropped out of the dance show to deal with her divorce and take care of her kids. We wish her the best and then we drop it.

The contradiction comes when we showcase an interview with Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry talking about his impending court date over his hunting incident. The one where he is alledged to have killed a bear in captivity and transported it across state lines illegally.

I admit, it seems a bit hypocritical.

The difference is that we didn't chase that story. We never touched it when it first broke.
Troy volunteered the statement in a light-hearted conversation about his shoes, of all things.
And he says nothing to stir up further controversy about the issue.
He simply states that the truth will come out during his day in court.
We're airing this interview because HE said it. HE volunteered the information.
In all respect to the bear and to those involved in the case against Troy, we are airing it because of the mere fact that it's kind of silly. Shoes....Shoes! made him talk about it.
If we wanted to follow the Troy vs. Bear story we could have chased down the mother and father of little "cubby" and aired their side of the story. We could have interviewed the hunting guide and his family. We would have interviewed the bear's nanny. We could have interviewed PETA and the bow-hunting association and forced them to tell us their opinions of the curious death of this now famous bear.

We didn't.
That's not us.

We'll continue to share the stories of your favorite artists. We'll bring you into their lives, their homes, their world. If an artist wants to tell us a story, we'll listen. And we'll share.
But we will not dig for the story that could potentially ruin the lives of children to get good ratings.

Country artists live to create music. They live to make a name for themselves creating music. They live to connect their music to their fans.
They do not live to hear their dirty laundry hung out to dry in the public eye.
They do not live to subject their children to their parent's public dispute.
But again, I'm an idealist.

If Country artists begin to use scandal and drama as tools to get their music to the masses, I quit.
If the only way we can get ratings for a show on Country Music is to air this crap, i quit.

As I write this, I'm reminded of another story we did recently on Sammy Kershaw.
In the interview, the struggling artist broke down about reaching rock bottom. He shared the touching story about how his daughter and his producer worked behind his back to help save his career.
He told the story of his life. ...HE told the story of his life...in HIS words, not ours.
It was a story of hope. It was a story of someone trying to change the path of his life.
If his story helped inspire someone else to change their life (and based on the emails we've received, it did), then we did our job.

And that IS our job. We promote Country Music. We promote the artists that make Country Music.
We tell the stories the artists want to share.

There are alot of really good journalists out there who have to cover this story. It's their job.
And many of them are doing their job very well. I'm just glad I don't have to.

I wish Sara, Craig and their family the best in this difficult time.
I will continue to hold on to my idealistic view that they never intended for this situation to be played out in the public eye.

- take care,
storme