America is on a drug and it’s called “Charlie Sheen.”

Sheen’s life is a train wreck: horrific, yet you still can’t turn away. And boy has the public and the media had a problem turning away from Sheen’s antics.

Despite important issues like unrest in the Middle East and the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear scare in Japan, the hot-button topic Americans have been focused on for the past couple weeks is Charlie Sheen. From his bizarre interviews, which have gone viral on the internet, to his outlandish statements, the media can not get enough of Sheen’s hot mess of a life.

The American public is transfixed with the story, and the media has also taken a healthy dose of “Charlie Sheen,” and its side effects include sensationalizing stories, loss of ethics, and bad reporting.

News outlets from CNN to MSNBC covered Sheen’s deteriorating career and personal life with a vengeance. The coverage was non-ending, from up-to-date reports to bringing in “expert” panelists to talk about the state of Sheen’s career, the media had a field day.

With so much is going on in the world, why did the media clamp onto the Sheen story with the Jaws of Life? After all, isn’t it the media’s job to inform the public about important current events, not to wax poetic about a celebrity’s spoiled, playboy lifestyle?

The media has increasingly neglected its main focus, which, if you haven’t forgotten, would be reporting actual news. It’s about time Lindsay Lohan’s arrest record stopped being breaking news and journalists did some real reporting. Whatever happened to the kind of journalism that brought down presidencies and revealed great injustices? Our generation has TMZ and Perez Hilton, two paragons of journalism.

There is something inherently wrong with this picture. We must send the mainstream media a strong message. So instead of turning your TV on and watching the latest foibles of our favorite celebrities, try focusing on important issues like the Middle East and the economy. You just might learn a thing or two.