While some former Disney Mouseketeers have gone on to fairly respectable, fresh-faced fame (Ryan Gosling and Kerri Russel spring to mind), Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are sufficiently head-shaving and assless chaps-wearing to tarnish that particular institution. In recent history, High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens and Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon have both been spotted jaybird nekkid on the internet. The outcry was understandably uproarious, even though both these girls were over 18 at the time.

Stepping into Humbert Humbert-ville, we find Disney’s pretty young cash cow, Miley Cyrus, floating all over the internet in various states of undress. Some of the pics are obviously self-shot and verge on soft-core, while others are professional, classed-up, and arguably de-porned. All of them, however, show a great deal of skin for a girl too young to drive.

Disney’s response up to this point has been to deny (where possible), cover up (where necessary), and fling apologies to all and sundry. But what about when there’s a chance to do some real good by bringing a taboo issue into the open? When Mary-Kate Olsen owned up to her continuing battle with anorexia, she made acceptable for discussion a topic that had long been swept under the rug. Love her or hate her, she became the poster-girl for recovery, and encouraged girls around the globe to pick up a sandwich.

Now, 16-year old Demi Lovato (yet another vaguely attractive, singing/acting Disney brunette) has been spotted with slit wrists. At a recent public appearance, her left wrist showed a series of markings that some have identified as being self-inflicted. The official story is that Lovato was wearing exceptionally tight plastic bracelets just prior to appearing on the red carpet. Ones that left uneven, jaggedy marks of varying lengths.

Having been a teenage girl, I know a thing or two (second-hand-wise) about self-mutilation, and it is my completely non-professional opinion that those are cutting scars. They are too irregular to be attributed to gummy bracelets, which would have had to be tight enough to cut off blood flow anyways. Unless her bracelets were made of razor blades, and only went partially around her wrist, there’s no way they left behind those kinds of marks. It is such a ludicrous excuse that, despite her rep’s denials, it’s almost proof against itself, so I’m coming out and saying it right now: Demi Lovato is a cutter. However, having been a teenage girl, I also know a thing or two about angst and despair and how he just won’t call, so I can feel for her. I imagine that more than a handful of young ladies worldwide can, as well.

Both Lovato and Disney have a chance here to do a world of good. While some girls flaunt their eating disorders, and teen pregnancies are a dime a dozen, taking your heartbreak out on your veins is still a social no-no. It’s never easy to be a Pioneer for Unacceptable Behavior, and almost certainly Lovato is too young to take on this beast by herself. By chucking bogus explanations at the press, Disney has perpetuated the idea that self-mutilation is shameful and best kept under sleeves. If they have any concern for their young starlet, let alone their target audience, they will play the supportive parent and help Demi through this with some modicum of integrity.

And sure, much of that success may have to do with the song’s video . . . where she’s writhing naked in a sauna and photocopying her own ass. But is this really so different from “Baby One More Time’s” midriff-baring button-down shirt and mid-thigh-length skirt and cardigan and . . . thigh-high socks and . . . orthopedic shoes and . . .

Ne’mind.

She’s barely more naked in Womanizer than she was in “Toxic” and just as be-greased as in “Slave,” both of which were pre-crazy. So there.

And sure the chorus of the song has, like, three different words, and maybe the choreography is quite glaringly written by a handful of 14-year-olds, and maybe her attempt at Hot Secretary is a little too Katinka Ingabogovinanana, but you know what? When your fat friend loses 50 pounds, you don’t ask him when he’s going to drop the other 200. You just buy him a couple of Fig Newtons and keep your fingers crossed.

You can’t hide when you’re naked in a sauna, and Britney looks fit, healthy and cheerful. She’s no longer driving around with her baby in her lap or shaving her head and weeping in public or thwacking cars with her umbrella, and it’s been a long time since she flashed her ladybits to the world. For sure, I haven’t done any of those things either, and I don’t expect a medal. But I also haven’t been through two pregnancies and a divorce and drug rehab and the loss of a doting aunt in the past two years, and I haven’t got a #1 hit single.

So Brit? Gold star.

I think Chris Crocker, in his infamous You Tube video defending Britney Spears, was onto something. (I’m not going to post it. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you sell the rock you’re living under. But here’s the Trance remix:)

I felt the same way back in December when, while cooking dinner and watching the six o’clock news, I was suddenly advised of Jamie Lynn Spears’ teenage pregnancy. It may be factual, but it isn’t news; it’s gossip, and should be left to Showbiz Tonight.

I prefer independent media sources. As an example why, here’s a list of headlines taken from Democracy Now!’s website on December 18, 2007, the same day Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy was revealed:

♦ Senate Postpones Vote on Domestic Spying Bill
♦ U.S. Military Sharing Intelligence on Iraq With Turkey
♦ 300 Turkish Troops Enter Northern Iraq
♦ Ron Paul Raises Record $6 Million in a Single Day
♦ Huckabee Equates Environmentalism With Pornography
♦ New Jersey Abolishes the Death Penalty
♦ International Donors Pledge $7.4 Billion to the Palestinians
♦ Israeli Air Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza
♦ Fidel Castro Suggests He Might Retire
♦ New York Couple Convicted of Enslaving Immigrants

And, a list of headlines from Democracy Now! on January 4, 2008, the same day I saw Britney being taken to hospital:

♦ Obama, Huckabee Win Iowa Caucuses
♦ Admin Limiting State Efforts to Expand Medicaid
♦ No Murder Charges for Marines in Haditha Massacre
♦ U.S. Lagging on Admitting Iraqi Refugees
♦ Rep. Warned CIA on Destroying Interrogation Tapes in 2003
♦ Kenya Police Block Opposition Rally for Consecutive Day
♦ 9 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Attack on Gaza
♦ 4 Killed and 50 Injured in Turkish Bombing
♦ French Farmer-Activist Launches Hunger Strike Against GMOs
♦ Texas Prisoner Freed by DNA Evidence

It’s quite a contrast. I recognize it’s up to us to watch and listen to news programs that meet our needs rather than expecting the media to cater to them. But are most of us up to that? Can the “average” person even name a source of independent journalism? Can he or she define the difference between mainstream and independent media?

To find out, I canvassed a handful of my co-workers, from various lives and backgrounds: high school drop out, single mother, immigrant, PhD holder, university student, self-defined average joe, college graduate, and blue-collar employee. I asked people of varying age, ethnicity, and socio-economic position.

Two were able to draw a distinction between corporate and independent media, one of whom defined the latter as “news that isn’t bought, censored, or altered by corporations.” Another was familiar with Democracy Now! None had heard about Huckabee comparing environmentalism to pornography. On the other hand, they had all heard about Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy, with most noting that they heard about it “right away.”

I understand why people eat up celebrity news and gossip. I sometimes find myself caught up in it and discussing the lives of celebrities with friends. However, real news ought to be real news, and leave the tragic and unstable life of Britney Spears alone.

Meanwhile, for news that matters, news that is in-depth, accurate, and engaging (rather than entertaining), you know where to go.