It’s only September, so there’s still time for another media orgy.
But so far, the saturation coverage of the briefly suspected killer in the JonBenét Ramsey case is the worst example of a media pile-on this year.
The hullabaloo over Katie Couric – would she leave “Today”; will she change the face of the evening news; and the slimming job CBS did with her digitally altered photo – has been loud and long. The Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes and “Bradgelina” baby picture intrigues were embarrassing blots on the media calendar. But nothing matches the Ramsey coverage for global, disproportionate response.
At a time when the country is fighting asymmetrical warfare, the media waged asymmetrical coverage on a sensationalized murder case that doesn’t deserve to knock wars and cease- fires further down the national agenda. Talk about your schlock and awe.
When the bubble burst this week, who among us didn’t wish we could demand 42 minutes of our life back? That was time misspent rescreening JonBenét beauty pageant B-roll, learning what prawn and champagne fare John Mark Karr consumed in business class, and reading the umpteenth suddenly urgent sidebar on Bangkok’s sex trade.
Because the technology exists, a flood of (mis)information exists. The only surprise is that there weren’t live streaming X-rays of the suspect’s luggage going through security in Thailand.
Can we get a retroactive refund on brain cells?
In the anniversary coverage of Hurricane Katrina, it has been noted that, if America doesn’t learn about itself from this event – lessons regarding race and class in addition to emergency preparedness – it will be an even greater shame.
Similarly, if the media do not take something valuable from the 2006 Ramsey circus, it will be an awful waste. Not just time and attention, but social values are at stake.
But what to take from the latest media binge? Sadly, it would happen the same way tomorrow. Next time, expect the same knee-jerk response.
A plea from the breakfast table: Even in proximity to Boulder, The Denver Post could put the story inside the A-section on the second and third day.
But realistically, the media excesses won’t be curtailed in the next go-round. This story has it all – sex, money, murder and those compelling pictures that tug at the subconscious in weird ways. We hate to look, we can’t look away. She’s a child, full of innocence; she’s a sexualized child, tarted up.
For cable TV news in particular, JonBenét Ramsey is the story that keeps on giving.
CNN seized on the Karr twist as hot summer filler and ran with it, at first exhibiting a rather gullible tone. (Fox News and MSNBC were more skeptical.) With certain glaring exceptions (the New York Daily News backtracked after its first-day, front page declaration of “Solved!”), the media refrained from assigning guilt. But nobody, print or electronic, displayed restraint in terms of the all-out, massive attention to a new hunch in a sensational story, a hunch that seemed shaky from the start.
Matthew Felling of the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs noted “a cavalcade of caveats” in what he saw on TV. “The coverage was overblown, but the media was remarkably skeptical,” he said.
In past instances – remember Gary Condit’s trial by TV – the media leaped to a guilty verdict. This time, reporters raised doubts and explained the phenomenon of false confessions.
Next time around, the standups in the Ramsey front yard and at the cemetery will be replayed along with the pictures.
The appeal of the pictures at the heart of this story has to do with “America’s schizophrenia regarding sexuality,” Felling said. The culture pushes sex while retaining a puritan streak.
The media oblige these mixed feelings, giving a nation of voyeurs the opportunity to simultaneously stare and denounce.
For 24-hour cable news, there’s no breaking the cycle when it comes to the Ramsey story. The story brings viewers, along with criticism and buzz, which brings more viewers.
Felling suggests the cable network response mirrors that of Gen. George Patton on the battlefield: “God help me, I love it so.”
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
