Michael Jackson: Media Coverage of the King of Pop's Death

Michael Jackson's death at age 50 on June 25 induced a bombardment of memorial media coverage by broadcast networks, web sites and magazines. Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children in an African-American working-class family. His siblings include Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Randy and Janet. With the guidance of father Joseph, the Jackson brothers formed a musical group, the Jackson 5. They played local shows and built a strong following, before moving on to working as an opening act for Gladys Knight and the Pips, James Brown and Sam and Dave who were signed to the legendary Motown record label. Motown founder Berry Gordy was impressed by the group and signed them to his label in 1968.

The Jackson 5 relocated to Los Angeles and in August 1969 served as the opening act for the Supremes. Their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, hit the Billboard magazine music charts with its first single, "I Want You Back," hitting the No. 1 spot on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 chart in January 1970. More chart-topping singles quickly followed and at the age of 13, Michael Jackson launched a solo career and made the Billboard magazine charts in 1971 with "Got to Be There." Despite the success, most of the Jackson 5 members broke ties with Motown in 1975 over creative control.

In 1979, working with producer Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson impressed the music world with his next solo album, 1979's Off the Wall, which features the Grammy Award-winning "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You." Then in 1982, Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, which generated seven top 10 hits. The release of the Thriller album was a major turning point for Michael Jackson's career and for pop music. In addition to its unparalleled commercial achievements, Thriller earned 12 Grammy Award nominations and won eight of those awards that included songwriting, vocal performance and album of the year. Read more about "Thriller's" impact on the music industry and pop culture in Rolling Stone magazine.

Throughout the 1980s Michael Jackson dominated celebrity magazines. While most of the coverage was positive due to his enormous professional success and philanthropy, the superstar's penchant for exotic pets, plastic surgery and the creation of his fantasy retreat Neverland prompted many rumors from the media.

By the 1990s, the enormous popularity of Jackson's music cooled and allegations of child molestation against the entertainer severely tarnished his reputation. At this time People magazine ran a cover story on the pop icon under the headline, "Michael Jackson Cracks Up: Sex, drugs and the fall of the world's biggest star."

Though charges were never filed, Jackson settled the case out of court with the boy's family the following year. More legal woes followed in 2004 for Jackson when he was arrested on charges related to incidents with a 13-year-old boy the previous year. The resulting 2005 trial was a media circus. On June 14, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all charges. After the trial the singer moved to Bahrain and became largely reclusive.

In 2009 Jackson announced that he would be performing a series of concerts in London as his "final curtain call." Despite all of the allegations and stories of odd behavior, which now included two strange short-lived marriages and children conceived by artificial insemination-Michael Jackson remained popular and tickets to these shows sold out in only four hours.

The first concert was to be held July 8 but Michael Jackson died suddenly of cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles. The cause of death is still being investigated. In the two weeks immediately following his death, the media, including magazines, has inundated the world with tribute magazine issues, tribute magazine covers, retrospectives, commentaries and more. Some of the magazines that produced Michael Jackson tributes included Entertainment Weekly, Time, Newsweek, TV Guide and People magazine.

Jackson's family held a public memorial on July 7 in Los Angeles featuring celebrity tributes and performances that included Mariah Carey, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Brooke Shields and more.