1151 Why We Hate the Media

1151 Why We Hate the Media

Is it because they don’t have enough reporters to cover the news?  Maybe.  Is it because the reporters they DO have are awful?  Maybe. Is it because the right wing says they have a liberal bias?  No, that’s not enough reason for most of us, plus they don’t.  Is it because the (limping) left wing media says they have a conservative bias?

It’s none of the above.  It’s because they turn serious but relatively inconsequential stuff into a circus.  Well, not a circus.  More like a sideshow.

One extreme example tells the tale.  The Jodi Arias trial.  The cute twinkie Arias is accused of and has admitted killing her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, supposed pillar of the community but really a cheap huckster.  Cheap hucksterism isn't a crime.  If it were, the jails would be even more overcrowded than they are now.  Murder IS a crime.

The woman has lied and lied and lied and now is pleading self defense so the State of Arizona will keep its poison needle in the closet.

The murder was was one of the grossest in history.  Twenty nine stab wounds, a shot to the head topped off with a throat slit from ear to ear and adams apple to spine.

Enter the TV channel HLN which is CNN’s low rent cousin.

They cover the trial live gavel to gavel.  They've been doing it since it began three months ago.  Their talk show drones, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Nancy Grace and their Great Oracle, “Dr. Drew” Pinsky use their nightly talk hours to go over the day’s testimony. And over and over.

But the final insult is their latest show, “HLN After Dark,” in which a live “jury” hands up verdicts on various aspects of the case after watching “experts” like Jose Baez of Casey Anthony fame analyze every detail.

Salivating and un-vetted men-and-women-on-the-streets gather in a studio to give their uninformed opinions to a home audience that appears by its Twitter and Facebook comments -- offered in real time -- that long ago decided she’s guilty.

Arias is a twisted, glib if not intelligent and reasonably attractive nut case.  The rest of the cast is also pretty interesting: the pit bull prosecutor who got his degree at Overzealous University School of Law, the Hindenburg-size defense lawyer who is starting to look like a deer in the headlights, the bored judge who can’t seem to keep her eyes open, the expert witnesses who stumble all over themselves, gracelessly but grammatically.

The “jury” on “After Dark” hasn't yet gotten to applaud or boo as points are made.  But it’s only a matter of time.

This is one disturbing television show.  And something says this is the future of the media.

Some quotes about this case:

--“I have my needles in the autoclave all ready to go”  -- Leonard White Feather, freelance executioner, Phoenix, AZ.

--“Can we get her to cut the flank steak and peppers?  She’s much faster than you.”  Y.C. Richards, retired nurse, State College, PA.

--“Juan Martinez eats his young. Kirk Nurmy just sits on them.” -- Anonymous source in the Maricopa County office of Public Defender.

--“Please send her phone number.” -- William Jefferson Clinton.

--“Please send her phone number.” -- Eliot Spitzer.

--“Please send her phone number.” -- John Edwards.

--“Please send her phone number.” -- Heidi Fleiss

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2013