With 24/7 news networks and a perpetually connected audience of news junkies, the American media often creates serious news stories out of minor occurrences when there is little else to fill their programming hours. In years past, the holiday season offered especially slim pickings for journalists, editors, commentators and anchors. This is not one of those years but you wouldn't know that from watching the broadcasts.

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Our nation is at war and is about to enter a new phase of that conflict in Afghanistan. The unemployment rate is over 10%. Our government is close to nationalizing one-seventh of our economy under the guise of health care reform. Recent revelations show that manmade climate change, an issue that has been near the top of our current government's priority list, might be a hoax. Iran, an enemy of our country for the past 30 years, is dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon.

And what is the media choosing to cover extensively? Professional golfer Tiger Woods who may or may not have been involved in a domestic dispute with his wife and two aspiring reality TV stars who may or may not have crashed a state dinner.

Of course one could argue that the public prefers these types of sensationalized stories instead of hearing about the less entertaining yet more important issues and current events. But we do not, or at least should not, watch the news to be entertained.

A more cynical theory is that the editorial decisions being made are meant to distract the American people from real news that reflects poorly on the current administration. Regardless of the reason, the media is simply not meeting its responsibilities.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." I doubt the type of information he was referring to was celebrity gossip.