Coverage of Lindsay Lohan's continuing problems with the law has brought a chorus of protests from critics who contend the media are dumbing down the news to appeal to the public's lowest common denominator.

The paparazzi last month swarmed around Lohan, who can be seen bawling in court and being hauled off to jail to serve 90 days for parole violation. The pictures of the young actress were rerun on TV nonstop. Even the morning network news shows covered the event extensively and tried to explain Lohan's drinking problem and her inability to stay out of trouble.After serving 13 days of a 90-day sentence, Lohan was released from jail this past Monday and sent immediately to a rehab center, where she is expected to spend the next three months. The 24-year-old actress also served 48 minutes in jail in 2007. When an exclusive photo can bring $1 million or more, celebrity photographers are on the prowl to the point where a ``hot" celebrity can't make a move without its being chronicled for the world to see.What had originally been the exclusive province of the tabloid press, this type of "journalism" is now embraced by TV, the Internet and, even more disturbingly, conventional media. On top of that, there are more photographers, reporters and even private citizens on the prowl. With smart phones becoming instant cameras, everyone can become an instant paparazzo.Check even the area's most respected newspapers and you'll find the latest tidbits on not only Lohan but on other bad girls, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Shannen Doherty and male counterparts Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen.Celebrity gossip is the sinful pleasure nobody wants to admit consuming. What does this fixation tell us about ourselves? Some critics say our obsession on the lifestyles of the rich and famous is a harmless waste of time a quest to make ourselves feel good. While we may have problems, we can look at a Lindsay Lohan and rationalize that we are much better off than that poor devil.Others are not as dismissive. They say our compulsion is proof positive that we are addicted to trash, trivia, the mundane and the unimportant, while, at the same time ignoring critical issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment and the budget deficit.How do talented charmers such as Lohan and Spears with the once girl-next-door qualities come to this tragic state? It's so reminiscent of the Judy Garland syndrome the sensational child talent who was never given a chance to grow up and make mistakes out of the public spotlight. In a similar downward spiral, the talented Garland died from an accidental drug overdose in 1969 at the age of 47.It wasn't too long ago that Spears personified the ideal of the all-American girl the pigtails, the convent-school uniform, the pouty lips, but all embraced in wholesomeness. In a Spears' profile, the London Telegraph called her late teenage years as the "timely incarnation of neoconservative values, proclaiming her virginity, keeping a Bible by her bedside and telling anyone who asked that fame meant nothing compared to her love of family, church and the flag."Forbes magazine named her the "World's Most Powerful Celebrity" when she was 22.That was then; this is now. As she was being hauled off to the mental ward on Jan. 5, 2008, Spears could barely muster the strength to raise a middle finger to the paparazzi. The breathtaking fall from grace was so complete that her parents feared for her life and attempted to intervene legally. A spokesperson for The Associated Press confirmed in February of that year that the agency had prepared an obituary for the then-26-year-old pop princess "just in case."While the Judy Garland analogy might make sense to some, the truth is that celebrities are being hounded not only by celebrity photographers but by picture cell-phone-carrying members of the public, also out to make a buck and to get some cheap thrills."There's nowhere to hide," says Cary Cooper, president of the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy. He says there is a greater appetite today to "knock celebrities down," and, he adds, the technology is there to provide the public to do it.Cooper says young celebrities are at risk because they often miss out on critical developmental phases of their lives, particularly their teenage years when they would have the camaraderie of their peer group.The public is quick to point its collective finger for Lohan's and Spears' problems at not only the mercenary aggressiveness of the celebrity photographers, but also at the lack of guidance by their parents and the materialism of their managers and handlers.It's the classic "which came first: the chicken-or-the-egg question." If the public didn't buy the tabloids, watch the True Hollywood Story or the TV tabloid shows each evening, and crave nonstop news on celebrity Web sites, such as TMZ.com, would there be a market for this information?Conversely, if the publishers and broadcasters of this material used self-restraint, would the public be satisfied with less coverage?Don't look for either to happen any time soon not with all that money at stake.(Bruce Frassinelli, a native of Summit Hill, lives in Schnecksville and is an adjunct instructor at Lehigh Carbon Community College.)