Who the f*ck is Pete Doherty?

I had the television on this afternoon, and one of the headline stories was about Pete Doherty's release (on a technicality) from jail in London. Now, since you are intrigued, you must be asking yourself, "What channel was this on? I didn't realize we have a channel that dealt with the latest useless celebrity gossip from jolly old England. Do I pay extra for this?"

Well....not to worry. You are not paying extra for this irrelevant news.

This headline story was on CNN!!

Yes, the world's cable news leader feels that a story about an junkie, who is unknown to Americans, is equally newsworthy as a category 5 hurricane, a potentially risky shuttle landing and a summit between North America's leaders. For shame.

So, back to the headline. Who the f*ck is Pete Doherty? All I know is that he used to be in The Libertines, now plays in a band called Babyshambles (who I assume are terrible) and he dated Kate Moss. I used to read the NME a lot....and even I don't really know who this guy is.

I can not explain how or why the US media has picked up on this Doherty in recent months. It completely boggles my mind. If Bono or Chris Martin had a heroin problem, maybe that makes the news over here....those guys are massive rock stars. Doherty is not.

I don't know for sure, but I would assume that Pete Doherty and his related bands have sold under 50,000 albums in total on this side of the Atlantic....hardly a chart-topper. I guess the news outlets are just laying the groundwork now, because they know he will eventually be found dead with a needle sticking out of his arm....and that's good TV.

It's not just CNN. I also remember reading about him on a daily basis, along with Hilton and Lohan, in the Metro (the paper for commuters). I'll give the Metro a pass on this, as I believe they are a Swedish company. Maybe all the Metro papers around the globe get their celebrity gossip from some central database in Europe. But CNN?!?! Come on. I used to think of CNN as a trusted news source, but their afternoon programming has been dumbed down so much, I don't think I can watch anymore. Along with Doherty, they also did a piece on America's best party schools. Now that's responsible programming!