A woman is murdered in cold blood by someone close to her. The police investigate, and evidence leads to an arrest. The man charged with the murder is vilified by the victim's family.
How does America react? Well, if the case involves:
an upper-class family
a former sitcom star
a uniquely horrific crime or
a defendant with a certain on-camera appeal for lonely 30-year old women
America just might focus every friggin' news network on the case. We'll make blogs, host debates, and even in some sick cases, idolize the defendant. And yet, aside from variations in social status, situation and location, there's little difference between these court room stars and the folks we see cuffed and pushed face-down over the hood of a squad car on COPS.
The media's role
So Scott Peterson was finally convicted. It took over a year, and wasted far too much of our attention spans, but the trial has finally come to an end.
NOW, instead of updates on the "vibes" given off by juror #5 or the 10 lbs Peterson shed over the last year, we have to hear about his sentencing. It's as if the media didn't kick the proverbial f--cking dead horse enough with the actual trial, that they now have to squeeze every last bit of public entertainment out of the murderer's punishment.
Courtroom Celebrity
This same process went down with the host of recent "courtroom celebrities": Martha Stewart, Robert Blake (still going), Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, and so on... And just like Peterson, somehow each of their cases had just the right elements to make them more than just a thief, killer, date rapist, or child molester.
Granted, these folks already had a certain celebrity to begin with, unlike Peterson. Martha Stewart was already an established over-privileged b-tch to begin with. So was Zsa Zsa Gabor when she slapped that state trooper back in the 90's. But instead of a cursory "hey, that's interesting" blurb on the news, we get friggin' captivated by these so-called divas who hit the blotter.
As if it wasn't enough to give these common (yet supposedly "uncommon") criminals undue attention, Martha Stewart has signed a deal to host a TV show upon her departure from prison. I don't know anyone other than uppity New England housewives who care for Stewart, but apparently some people actually think there's a demand for her on TV. I imagine it's the same folks who give Tara Reed and Paris Hilton the time of day.
What's really wrong with the picture
How the hell is Scott Peterson different from any other prison trash or ruthless killer? How is it that Martha Stewart is somehow different from Kenneth Lay or any other scummy insider stealing money from people's retirements and investments? They're not different.
All I'm saying is, there's a point when reporting goes from news to hype. And, for all the common criminals day-in and day-out who don't get a blink of coverage on the local news, why do we give so much hype these special cases?
