• by Jack Myers , June 29, 2007

Is Paris Hilton the world's most recognizable person?

At a bar in downtown Havana, Cuba on a recent weekend, on a lone and outdated television set, images of locally edited news updates flickered. Scattered among the locals were several Mexican businessmen, a few Canadian tourists, and a handful of Americans. One American in particular, hungry for baseball scores from home and curious about the presentation of news in Castro's Cuba, settled in for a local beer and an hour of dedicated viewing.

The sound was down and there were to be no baseball updates. Soccer was the big sports story, with updates on the Cuba vs. Mexico match and player injuries. There was a story about Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, several stories of local interest only, but virtually nothing of international note except for one story that dominated the hour. It was constantly repeated, capturing a full 25% of the total news hour.

It was the story of Paris Hilton. There were repeated scenes of her leaving prison, getting into a car, traveling through traffic and emerging again. Each time she came on, those gathered at the bar would glance at the television, watch transfixed for a few moments, and then return to their conversations and drinks. It was the same story, repeated over, and over, and over again.

While intelligent observers may be concerned about the negative impact the war in Iraq and America's foreign policies are having on our global image, America today is defined by Paris Hilton. Even in dictatorships, where news from and about America is banned, Paris Hilton is our cultural representative. It is not unreasonable to believe that Paris Hilton is the single most recognizable person in the world today.

When Paris first emerged on the social scene in New York, her drunken escapades at Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 and other hot spots were planned and choreographed, with well-paid publicists assuring the stories were picked up by "Entertainment Tonight" and Page Six.  As her notoriety grew, her life became an open Web site, rife with rumor and truth. Fifteen minutes of fame stretched into 30, then 60. Odds get better every day that Paris is this generation's Marilyn Monroe -- a beauty of some talent, endless sex appeal (who knows why), and potentially legendary fame.

Marilyn's body of work includes nude photo shoots for Playboy that at the time were scandalous. Paris' film credits are far less noteworthy, but it's not inconceivable that "The Simple Life" could live on in syndication for generations. Paris' stint in jail could have been an opportunity to enhance her career by handling it in the noble tradition of Martha Stewart. But that would have been out of character. Hardly a day went by that the paparazzi and tabloids didn't have a Paris story to tell. Perhaps not quite as choreographed as Bungalow 8, but effective nonetheless.

How hypocritical is it that the tabloid press would attack NBC for offering to pay $1 million for Paris' first out-of-jail interview? After all, the interview would likely become the most globally viewed television program of 2007. Why bury it on the "Today Show"? NBC should have made it a two-hour prime-time special, with footage of Paris' greatest moments and a live interview with Matt Lauer and MeredithVieira. They could have held back footage for weeks of "Today Show" exposure that would have shot ratings through the roof.

How could the media have missed this opportunity to take the single most recognizable person in the world and have a captive audience during the summer ratings doldrums? Unfortunately for Paris, her handlers, and her fans, Larry King was an especially inappropriate option, but he was the only game left in town. You could almost hear the groans of CNN executives as the King of Non Sequiturs failed to ask obvious follow-up questions, repeated irrelevant questions multiple times, pursued a line of questioning on the impact of attention deficit disorder, and neglected issues that might have generated some actual emotion from Paris.

Early in the interview Paris commented that she had "a new outlook on life." Later she added that being in jail had "changed my life forever." King never asked what new outlook or how had it changed her life. When Paris said "I've been immature and made mistakes but I've learned from them," King's follow-up question was about friends Paris had "gotten rid of." When she talked, several times, about her work, King never asked what her companies did and what her role is. When she complained "There's so much more to me than what people think," King asked "Did you write a lot [in prison]?" When Paris claimed to have never done drugs other than Adderall for her ADD, there was no pressure, no deeper inquiry. No pot? No cocaine? No "X"?

King did ask about future plans for marriage and children, but no inquiry into her parents' responses to her notoriety, her upbringing, her life of entitlement (even as she stressed she was like any other girl). No wonderment where her sister Nicky has been and what their relationship is like now. Where were the questions about her relationship with Nicole Richie? Why no simple follow-up questions about the movies Paris is appearing in, upcoming plot lines for the next season of "The Simple Life," and what books she read while in jail (other than the Bible)?

Frankly, I'm disappointed a great opportunity has been missed -- the opportunity to take the world's most visible and recognizable personality and subject her to a meaningful interview when she is at her most vulnerable. This was the moment for Barbara, Meredith, Katie or even Rosie to step up and do their job.

Let's face it, globally and in the U.S. the biggest story of the past month has been the jailing of Paris Hilton. This is our news reality. This is our culture. This is our society. The world sees us that way whether we like it or not. Why, suddenly, did our institutions, network executives and anchors become camera-shy and above blatant commercialism? Did Paris Hilton, days after her jail term, suddenly become old news? What do you think?