On BTK, Aruba teenager coverage
This news is from last week (August 19), but I'm trying to get caught up.Temple University's MMC "studio briefing" listserv notes the latest cable news embarrassments over coverage of the BTK (Bind-Torture-Kill) killer Dennis Rader (left). CNN for one gave extensive coverage to Rader's sentencing last week, and even carried Rader's "long, rambling court statement" in full (and posted the video on its web site). This brought a slam from one of CNN's own, crusty anchor Jack Cafferty. "Appearing on CNN's Situation Room, hosted by Wolf Blitzer, Cafferty remarked, 'We ... played right into his hands. ... We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Publicity is this monster's gasoline.'" What's more:
- Cafferty called CNN's coverage "nonsense," and commented that "it doesn't belong on television." He warned that it might "inspire other nut cases out there that maybe they can get themselves famous by doing this." Cafferty confessed that he was "a little embarrassed to be a part of the media on a day like this."
Apparently Rader likes publicity. He noted in court on Thursday: "I seem to crave the attention of the media." MMC also quotes Rader as stating "I feel like I'm a star right now." He said this "during a two-hour Dateline [on NBC] devoted entirely to him last Friday."
Meanwhile, with CNN's Larry King on vacation, King's fill-in guest hosts have been pulling out all the stops to boost ratings with low-ball "news." Bob Costas devoted his entire show on Wednesday night (August 17) to the BTK killer. As a result he "saw his ratings more than double." According to MMC, on Monday and Tuesday nights (pre-BTK) "Costas, who has been designated King's 'permanent substitute,' had averaged only 516,000 viewers. That figure improved to 1,049,000 on Wednesday [BTK night]". Even so, that "was still below King's average of 1,140,000."
On Thursday night another host took over King's show, and what better way to boost sagging ratings but to eturn to the well of the missing Aruba teenager story . . . again.
- Chris Pixley, the Atlanta criminal attorney with movie-star good looks who was a member of Scott Peterson's defense team. His subjects were the continued search in Aruba for Natalee Holloway and the Rader sentencing. (Pixley to Holloway's mother: "Now there is this new report, hundreds of miles away from Aruba, of human remains washing up in Venezuela. Do you ever allow yourself to think that this could be your daughter?")
posted by hdougie at 8/25/2005 11:01:00 AM
5 Comments:
I agree with the news ancher you quoted, Jack Cafferty, when dealing with this issue of the BTK story. This excessively covered story by the media was totally overdone and almost turns the tragedy of the young girl and the grief of the family into a sensationalized competition for boosting media ratings. This is the exact issue I discussed in my response to your question on the first day of class of "what is a main issue we may have with the media." In this case it is the motivation behind what stories are covered the most prevelently and why, and in what light they are made "newsworthy." It is very disheartening to think that a goal of covering this story so thoroughly is to help someone else's news ratings.
Kate Kistner
I find it disgusting bow criminals can humiliate the lives of their victims, for unjustifiable motives and to gain publicity. You said that Rader likes publicity, I find this to be very true. I think that your presented this story in a very well written coherent manner. In the past I have seen criminals commit wrong-doings all for the sakeof getting their name in the paper or even to have their face shown. It makes you wonder how people turn out to be this way. It also causes you to ask the question, why?
I was just thinking about the Natalie Holloway case, and how the media has made her sad story one of its highest priorities since she disappeared. The increasing coverage of her case has brought to light the question of media selection in terms of missing persons. We’ve had this discussion in several of my classes, and the answer always comes down to issues of race. In simple terms, an attractive white girl seems to be the most newsworthy missing person. While race may be an important factor in media selection, are we letting another element escape the spotlight? What about gender? I can honestly say that I don’t remember ever seeing the face of missing minority on the local news, but I also can’t recall the case of a missing male receiving extended publicity. When a female missing person case reaches national attention, she essentially becomes America’s sweetheart, a delicate damsel in distress who needs the prayers and empathy of viewers in order to be rescued. But what about the males who go missing in this country every year? Are they not in need of the same type of support and attention from the media? In my opinion, all this media attention just reinforces the stereotype of the female as the vulnerable being in need of assistance. I think this issue is a prime example of agenda setting; the media is basically dictating which missing persons we pay attention to by only shedding the spotlight on the plight of young white females. It is because of this that parents take special care to shelter and protect their daughters, warning them of the dangers of being abducted. In reality, people of different age, race, and gender go missing every day in this country, and our sons need just as much protection as our “fragile” daughters.
The simple statement above the irks me is that Bob Costas saw his saw his coverage double when he devoted a whole show to the BTK killer – it goes to show what really sucks people in. The low blows, dirty stories, and rumor mills fuel the “news.” How many more people tune-in for shows like The Insider and Entertainment Tonight, than the nightly news – what does it say about us that people would rather hear about skanky celebrities like Brittany Spears or the BTK killer (who no doubt was reeling in his pool of publicity) for an hour than thirty quick minutes of basic what’s going on in the world updates or even local newscasts?
Colleen Bennett
Comn 160
I’m not going to lie, when I was waiting at city hall for jury duty I picked up a People magazine and read the article about the BTK. I found it strangely intriguing as I do most of the horrific murder stories that appear in the various outlets of the media. I agree with, it seems like, everyone that some of these types of cases get too much media coverage for their own good. However if the public is eating it up as they do can you blame the media for using it to boost ratings? For me it goes back to the whole “give the people what they want mentality” and yes I’d love to know how many copy crimes the media has induced, but we as a people seem to have an insatiable thirst for stories of these type.
Jon Gerlach
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