Journalistic integrity. That was the subject of my last two posts here, and I had planned to move on. I was going to write about the annual Magazine Day conference, which I attended here in New York this week. That'll have to wait.
Watching the local FOX station's Good Day New York this morning, I was horrified to see them spend more than three minutes playing a tape of a private phone call from Alec Baldwin to his estranged daughter. 
The actor is locked in a bitter custody battle with ex-wife Kim Bassinger, another high-profile celeb. Their battle has included public name-calling and nastiness on both sides and, frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves.
But what bothers me is that major news media are playing this audio tape -- a private phone call from a father to his child. Baldwin's nasty and foul-mouthed rage -- abhorent as it is -- was not done in public, where it does become fodder for media gossip. This was a tape that had been used in court and then sealed by the court.
I thought, ok, this is FOX TV. I know the producer of the morning show, and she's told me their news show is heavily about gossip and show biz celebs.
But a few minutes later, there was the same tape, played in full on The Today Show on NBC. They even followed it with interviews with a lawyer and the head of TMZ.com, which had first taken the sealed material public. The TMZ guy explained he played it with the approval of Baldwin's daughter. Her approval? She's 11 years old!
I understand that the two actors are public figures, but do we really need to hear a private message from a father to his daughter? Should this sensationalism be taking four minutes of precious news time?
Anna Nicole is gone, so I guess they need to find new dirt to shovel at us. Do we have to sit silently and take it?