45 Comments

1. ms anne:

next on the docket is sure to be the compulsive liar in utah who killed his pregnant wife–shot her in the head, dumped her body in a landfill–and then hightailed it to the mental ward claiming a convenient psychotic breakdown. she apparently found out he wasn’t accepted to medical school, had never graduated from college, and had fed her a line of fantasies throughout the marriage. best to rub her out and start over. i tip my hat to the peterson jury.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:09 pm 2. Xixi:

The blond hyenas on Court TV are worse. Made up for tv by a cosmetic gun dialed up to “amateur ho” in an attempt to hide excess testosterone, they’ve relished in Scott’s demise for months. Now, they’ll call for his gonads to be slowly ripped from his body.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:18 pm 3. Lan Nguyen:

The most ironic things is in every debates, everybody asked for evidence, or cite evidence as their support. Parallel universe is everywhere, I guess.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:24 pm 4. ms anne:

may i change the subject for just a moment, as long as we’re dishing about television coverage? cbs fires a female producer for cutting into csi with the news of yet another of arafat’s deaths, because viewers got upset. so why is mary mapes sitting at cbs after ramming a full 60 minutes segment onto the screen based on obviously forged documents? viewers got definitely upset. is cbs trying to look tough on a minor issue when they clearly flubbed the major one? thanks. now back to lacquered bimbo broadcasters breathlessly covering peterson.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:28 pm 5. Charlie (Colorado):

No, first we’ve got the question of his appeals to settle.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:28 pm 6. gb_in_ga:

Oh, and we’ve also got the Michael Jackson thing to look forward to, too!

No, there won’t be any lack of high profile trials to fill the vacuum in cable news…

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:37 pm 7. dr. sanity:

Tying the Peterson trial into international events: Chirac Calls Peterson ‘Man of Courage and Conviction’ –very funny at Scrappleface.

Nov 12, 2004 - 3:55 pm 8. Kevin P:

Roger:

We will have these media induced frenzies until people start tunning out. These are local stories that are pumped up into national stories by the MSM for ratings. Lets face it, Larry King can only interview Jerry Lewis and Dan Rather so many times. We will also have the so called reality shows until people stop watching.

Nov 12, 2004 - 4:39 pm 9. TedM:

At least we are past the number one time filler.

WHO KILLED JON BENET???

Nov 12, 2004 - 4:49 pm 10. rastajenk:

I never understood why this case got celebrity status in the first place…just cause it’s in California?

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:03 pm 11. Terrye:

I guess they just do not have anything else interesting to talk about. The only thing I can think of that makes this case of national importance is the conviction of Peterson for the death of his unborn child. Other than that we have a woman with a pretty smile who met an untimely and tragic end.

I found the spectacle of Arafat’s burial to be far more fascinating in a train wreck kind of way. I thought his adoring fans were going to drag his dead body from the coffin and rip it limb from limb.

And then of course there is always Iraq and the news that some imam somewhere says it is ok to nuke the US because we have killed “millions” of Muslims. yeah right.. where?

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:05 pm 12. Vexorg:

Maybe now I’m going to have to call up the radio station and request Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry” on the way home from work…

http://www.lyricsdomain.com/4/don_henley/dirty_laundry.html

(watch out for the popup.)

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:09 pm 13. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

An awful lot of Fox’s anchors are lawyers. Maybe they just can’t help themselves.

More seriously, I suspect they are going for the soap opera demographic. And as you say, they do have a lot of time to fill. The Fox model during the day is to break into their shows a lot for newsworthy items, like a car being chased by LA police.

My biggest gripe with Fox News is that they do reruns at night. Since I stay up late, am in a Western time zone (MST, never DST) and sometimes run Fox as video wallpaper while working, I sometimes see some of this nonsense three times (sorta). If I switch to the live CNN, it is hosted by some really obnoxious British financial guy. My second biggest gripe about Fox is windbag Bill O’Reilly.

It could be worse. When I lived in Paris during Gulf War I, the only TV we had (after talking the manager into switching away from some sports channel) was Sky News – another Murdoch production. They seemed to only have 15 minutes of news that they reported over and over. They also ran a commercial for something or other all the time, and it had a very annoying, stick in your head tune. I would loved to have known enough French to watch their news, but it wouldn’t have made much difference, since their evening programs seemed to be all XXX porno.

My solutions: (1) Hike 1km to the hotel where my compatriots were staying, and watch CNN (this also involved going through an area we called little Iraq). (2) Listen to BBC on the shortwave radio I brought along. In those days, the Beeb was still a pretty good news service. VOA has never been interesting.

(3)Read The European, but they didn’t have any cool war video, being a newspaper.

Those little short wave radios are pretty good, btw, if you are traveling. The cheap ones are just as sensitive as the most expensive (I say that as someone who used to do RF engineering). We took an eco-cruise out of Costa Rico a few years ago on a little bitty ship, and they had no connections at all to the outside world. This was when the intifada was starting, and some of the Jewish folks on the boat were very interested. So I brought out the pocket sized Sony short wave, went outside to avoid the shielding of the metal decks, and was able to get BBC and VOA (and, of course Radio Havana for comic relief).

I would add to the list of trials: Saddam Hussein. I suspect that may have a lot of coverage, with translation. They probably won’t show us the hanging, though.

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:12 pm 14. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Why was the Peterson trial interesting?

It came along when the cable networks had no other big trial. Michael Jackson was between chapters.

It had almost no physical evidence.

The defendant was clearly a scum bag, apprehended in disguise with case headed for the border.

The mistress added a nice soap opera touch.

There was a big name attorney for the defense (this is probably circular – would Peterson have had a big name attorney if there was no notoriety?).

The colocation of the alibi and the body disposal was rich.

Peterson, most likely a psychopath (his lies to Fry were more telling than the murder of his wife), seemed like the guy next door or the one your daughter is married to.

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:18 pm 15. Terrye:

I know I am dreading the whole Jackosn thing. The man is a freak. Sad really, he was such a cute little boy. Between him and his sister’s boob the networks are beside themselves.

Nov 12, 2004 - 5:46 pm 16. Jim:

I couldn’t care less about the conviction, but I’ll tell you this: for the law to consider Peterson a murderer for killing a fetus which it would have been legal for his wife to kill is insane.

Nov 12, 2004 - 6:20 pm 17. Robert Schwartz:

“What Will Greta Van Susteren Do?”

I, for one would not give a fig, so long as she does it out of my sight. If I ran the zoo. I would put a hard news hour at 10 p.m. eastern.

Nov 12, 2004 - 6:36 pm 18. Buddy Larsen:

John Moore is right about drawing in that demographic. If they then stick around for Hannity 7 the others, maybe the get a new take on what the MSM is telling them. So, maybe one good effect pertains. And, there IS public interest in the tabloid aspect. Chicken or egg, who knows, but maybe there’s a sort of psychodramatic working out of subliminal stuff, for some folks, and they may find themselves dawning on “Hey, murder is really bad, I mean, really, really BAD, y’know?”

Nov 12, 2004 - 6:44 pm 19. Macker:

Fortunately I didn’t follow Scott’s trial. Even if he’s given the Death Penalty, he’ll be around for years as the appeals processes grind justice to a halt.

I think Michael Jackson will, some time down the road, perhaps even during a trial, pull a Roman Polanski and slip away to France.

And the guy in Utah? Toast!

Nov 12, 2004 - 7:00 pm 20. Lem:

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the Jury system is working again in California the way it’s meant to work. A little too late for Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown, but who says you can have everything? The bad news is, proper credit will not go to Bush.

Yes Bush. The reelection of Bush is another example of the pendulum swinging the way of sanity.

The MSM, the loyal opposition, is in disarray, loosing audience almost as fast as its credibility.

We have once again a decent majority in the Senate, the senate has been acting as Bush’s daytime cell phone caller; killing all his minutes.

Arafat is dead. Saddam is in jail and Afghanistan is a pseudo democratic state.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m a sucker for good news.

Nov 12, 2004 - 7:04 pm 21. lindenen:

Does anyone else think Ben Affleck would be perfect to play li’l Scotty Peterson?

Nov 12, 2004 - 7:19 pm 22. Ed Poinsett:

Instapundit had the best comment. He basically said that he’ll miss the Peterson trial, because in every gym, bar, lobby, etc. when it was on, he knew there was no news to report.

Nov 12, 2004 - 7:27 pm 23. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Jim illustrates the craziness of Supreme Court abortion rulings:

I couldn’t care less about the conviction, but I’ll tell you this: for the law to consider Peterson a murderer for killing a fetus which it would have been legal for his wife to kill is insane.

Yes, it should be illegal for his wife to kill a late term fetus also, except in self defense.

Specifically, the law about murders of the unborn show what the populace will do to protect them when the Supreme Court is not setting the rules it invented by ignoring the Constitution.

Nov 12, 2004 - 7:59 pm 24. Kevin P:

Roger:

The only thing special about this trial was the attention the national media outlets paid it. When they saw how much money the OJ trial made them they have set up this trial coverage machinery and the Peterson trial fit the bill. Sadly, there are probably 10 to 20 murder trials around the country that could have been plugged into the hype machine that the MSM has set up. For years unless a trial had a celebrity involved or was incredibly horrid murder trials were local stories covered by the local press. The 24 hour cable stations have a need for stories and the mainstrean press has latched on to their invention.

Nov 12, 2004 - 8:05 pm 25. Lem:

I wonder how many Peterson jurors were also Bush voters? You know somebody will ask.

Nov 12, 2004 - 8:12 pm 26. gb_in_ga:

One more thing about the newsworthyness of the Peterson trial: Note that it is not for a single murder, but 2. His wife and his unborn child. As I understand, under Cali law, this could not be a capital case if it were a single murder, so the duality of it is important. But, the child was in utero, about 8 months along. So, was the child a child or a fetus? Was the child a “real” person or not? If the child were not a “real person”, then how can the child be murdered? And how is Scott Peterson killing the unborn child morally any different than if done by a medical procedure? Why is it ok for the mother to order the killing of the child, but not the father? If it is murder on the one hand, wouldn’t it also be murder on the other? It boils down to being a precedent setting case pertaining to abortion.

Not that it is excusable, I still think he’s a scumbag.

Nov 12, 2004 - 8:59 pm 27. idi_amin:

thank god its over.. hopefully “Laci Peterson” now joins “Bennifer” in the media filler dustbin. at least we will have a brief respite until the next Missing White Lady/Abducted Coed story.

This case made me realize how little News there is on Fox News. I love Laurie Dhue and Mara Liasson, but i have to admit that CNN in fact does much more actual news reporting, biased or not. Except for Brit Hume’s hour, FNC is pretty much all defense attorneys vs. ex-federal prosecutors, or bulls vs. bears, all the time, with a few minutes of endlessly repeated “news alerts” every half-hour. More Laurie Dhue and Mara Liasson please!

Nov 12, 2004 - 10:44 pm 28. jedrury:

I agree with Roger. I turned the case off since the beginning. My mind’s capacity to absorb and focus was consumed by the election and the political scene.

Murder, who needs a juicy murder when you have a rip roaring action-packed, dog eat dog Armageddon every day since last year !!

Nov 13, 2004 - 4:58 am 29. rastajenk:

Speaking of Fox, does anyone else think that new-ish news reader Uma Gumma-something is kind of creepy looking? She scares me.

Nov 13, 2004 - 5:06 am 30. kynna:

gb,

The baby was further along. Nine months, I’m pretty sure.

When they discovered the bodies they described them as the body of a woman and the body of an infant until they were identified.

Nov 13, 2004 - 5:23 am 31. David Thomson:

ìWhat’s interesting (faintly) about the Peterson case is that he was found guilty with virtually no real evidence.î

Nope, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. Our justice system is supposedly premised upon the concept of proving the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the standard has deteriorated into having to prove someone guilty beyond virtually any doubt whatsoever! This was not suppose to happen. Why did it? Thatís because too many citizens are intimidated by those possessing law degrees. Itís time to take back much of the power from the legal profession.

ìYes Bush. The reelection of Bush is another example of the pendulum swinging the way of sanity.î

I agree completely. President Bushís reelection was a decision by the American people for the use of common sense in our everyday lives. If John Kerry had been elected—Scott Peterson might be walking out of the courtroom a free man. The Massachusetts senator represents the philosophical deconstructionists.

Nov 13, 2004 - 6:07 am 32. RandMan:

TV news, because of its visual element, is often driven by sensationalism. This is true for both the networks and the local news done at the affiliate level.

I recall a murder in Florida a few years back. A woman was murdered by her estranged husband. The kicker was he murdered her while she was being taped for a television interview on one of the spanish language networks. The tape was broadcast by local news stations all over the nation. Of course, if there’d been no tape, this would only have been a local story.

The networks sensationalism is much more problematic, due to the political value of their content. We’ve all seen news reports of Palestinians throwing rocks at one time or another in a network news broadcast. What isn’t reported is that no one was throwing rocks before the cameras started rolling, and that once the news cameras stop recording, the rock throwers dispersed. It seems quite often that TV news isn’t covering the news, but actually creating the news. Or at the very least, the news folks are being manipulated by those the news folks are covering.

If it bleeds, it leads.

Nov 13, 2004 - 6:11 am 33. Mike_Nargizian:

Petersen -

Killed his wife and baby

Wife portrayed as nice good hometown girl

Petersen portrayed as slick liar

Petersen is white

Petersen had girlfriend testify against him

Petersen tried by jury of middle class and above

OJ -

Killed his wife and her ‘friend’ as portrayed

Wife portrayed as bitch who was ‘cheating’ on her EX husband

OJ a famous black icon

OJ is black and white cops were ‘racist’

OJ had girlfriend who wouldn’t testify and Kato who changed his story with shifting of public wind

OJ tried by mainly un-educated jury where race played a factor

Nov 13, 2004 - 6:48 am 34. Jim in Texas:

He was stupid and deserved to get caught out.

He could have committed the perfect murder if he had been a little more clever.

Take her out on the boat, push her out of the boat, drive the boat around while she drowns, and pull her back into the boat.

I’ve investigated several (possible) murders by drowning and I never had enough evidence to take any of them to trial.

Ladies, be very suspicious if your husband invites you to a day on the lake…

Nov 13, 2004 - 8:30 am 35. idi_amin:

Hi RandMan, i agree with you about sensationalism and visuals and bleeding making for compelling news. However, this Peterson case had none of those values. There was absolutely nothing visually exciting about hours of video of Scott Peterson sitting at a table in a courtroom. And theres nothing sensational about a non-famous guy killing his wife.

I am still puzzled as to why the networks went nuts for this case. Why did they think anyone cares? I’d be interested to learn if their ratings showed that people really tuned in to this stuff, or if it was just cheap filler. Maybe people just think that Lis Wiehl is hot.

Nov 13, 2004 - 9:43 am 36. richard mcenroe:

I say we hold out for a series of Greta/Katie Couric televised cat fights…

Nov 13, 2004 - 10:12 am 37. gb_in_ga:

Kynna:

According to this article on CNN’s site, it was 8 months:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/11/13/peterson.verdict/index.html

Not that it matters much, at 8 months the child is nominally viable. An 8 month fetus, a 9 month fetus, and a newborn would all be pretty much indistinguishable with that much decay.

Nov 13, 2004 - 3:05 pm 38. Charlie (Colorado):

Speaking of Fox, does anyone else think that new-ish news reader Uma Gumma-something is kind of creepy looking? She scares me.

Uma Pemmaraju, and, no, actually I think she’s kinda hot.

No Kiran Chetry or Laurie Dhue, but kinda hot.

Nov 13, 2004 - 4:36 pm 39. The Old Coot:

Please folks, it was a BABY! I’m gonna hurl the next time someone calls it a “fetus” or “unviable tissue mass”. Shame on you.

Nov 13, 2004 - 6:12 pm 40. Kyda Sylvester:

But, Roger, don’t you remember, Ron Goldman’s blood was planted in the Bronco by the LAPD. Or was it that the blood sample, carried too long in the detective’s pocket, degraded into something that only resembled Ron’s blood? Or perhaps it was the lack of rigorous controls in the lab where a careless technician contaminated the sample swatch with some of his real blood? (Did I miss any?)

I’m afraid OJ set the gold standard for celebrity trials. We probably won’t see its like again any time soon (that’s a good thing). But there’s a small ray of hope for those missing Scott: It’s possible the appeals court will declare a mistrial and we can start all over again.

Nov 13, 2004 - 7:15 pm 41. gb_in_ga:

Old Coot:

Believe it or not, I’m on your side. My original post on this thread was mainly to demonstrate that there is no moral difference between the 2. There’s no real difference between infanticide and abortion, as this case demonstrates. I just use the commonly accepted medical term for a child in-utero. My last point was that at that level of decomposition, there was no real way to tell whether the child had been born or not.

But on the other hand, I just associate the term “fetus” with “child in-utero”. I dissociate myself from the negative meanings that the left has heaped on it. They may mean “mass of tissue”, but I can ignore that. I know what it really means, and I’d say that so do you.

Nov 13, 2004 - 7:42 pm 42. richard mcenroe:

The old coot ó FWIW, one of my nieces was born weeks early, definitely not nine months. She’s a happy, gorgeous little kid today.

Nov 13, 2004 - 8:11 pm 43. The Old Coot:

Apologies for sounding so strident. We had a difficult pregnancy with twins (they are now 8 years-old and just fine) and we saw them early and often via ultrasound. They were babies…no other word should ever be used to describe them.

Nov 14, 2004 - 6:31 am 44. Ann:

Don’t worry about Greta. Next up? The Robert Blake trial.

Nov 15, 2004 - 12:36 pm 45. Paralegal:

Lis Wiehl “hot”? Where are you looking?

She has more crows feet than you can count:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4151318&a=30878266&p=65624277

Feb 19, 2005 - 12:59 pm

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