James Hirsen, NewsMax.com
Monday, Aug. 6, 2007

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Finding it harder and harder to distinguish between news and entertainment?

The Pew Research Center for People & the Press has done a survey that suggests you're not alone. Apparently, a lot of people are peeved with the media for their excessive celebrity coverage. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said that, in both print and broadcast media, celebrities and their shenanigans are over-covered. (Eight percent said media get the amount of celebrity coverage just right while 2 percent think there is not enough.)

Things aren't always what they seem, though. Professional wrestling has a huge audience, much larger than those who will actually admit to an interviewer that they tune in.

Similarly, the public may complain about the amount of celebrity coverage in an opinion poll, but folks still seem to crave it, judging by the number of shows that specialize in entertainment and the increasing number of broadcast minutes and print stories devoted to famed figures and the red carpet industry.

Now for some entertainment coverage of the non-excessive kind, the latest in the Bourne trilogy, "The Bourne Ultimatum," has delivered a message from the movie-going public to Hollywood moguls.

Even though it's an action movie, the film comes across with a powerful entertainment punch through its use of time-tested tools — a great story and compelling characters.

Paul Greengrass, who directed the latest Bourne flick as well as "The Bourne Supremacy" and "United 93," has tipped his hat to Hitchcock via the Robert Ludlum book-turned-big-screen spy character Jason Bourne.

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In addition to having lost his memory, Bourne has also lost his moral footing in the latest installment. He seeks to find it, as well as clues to his real identity.

Despite his movie tale losses, "Ultimatum's" Bourne finds real life box-office bucks. The film took in $70.2 million in its opening weekend, more than the openings of the two previous Bourne flicks.

The Matt Damon movie also surpassed any of the James Bond film openings, the closest being 2002's "Die Another Day," which came in at $47 million.

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