Years ago an individual’s announcement of being gay came with a tidal wave of shock and campaigns questioning the morals of society.

Even from beyond the grave, musicians are being sound-checked and compiled into posthumous albums.

Two weeks ago one of my communications professors commented that his news quizzes, which cover the top 10 names in the past week’s news, usually have one recurring name throughout the semester and was hoping Charlie Sheen would be removed very soon. That comment got me thinking about the media’s story priorities.

Believing in a cause is a great thing, and as citizens we should all do our part to help out some sort of non-profit organization. But when our beliefs begin to stem from the endorsements of celebrities, there is something very wrong with that picture.

I am not one to get star struck. One of the first things you learn as a reporter is that everyone is equal, some people have different expertise.

TMZ will be expanding its coverage of celebrity gossip with TMZSports.com, which is slated to launch in the very near future.