Posted on 06/10/2005 11:02:44 PM PDT by CHARLITE
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (June 10) - About 2,200 members of the media received credentials to cover Michael Jackson's trial - more than the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder trials combined and enough to form a vast, humming tent city outside the modest courthouse.
Reporters from every continent but Antarctica are covering a story that has attracted perhaps the largest-ever media contingent for a criminal trial.
The satellite trucks and portable toilets function at all hours, since foreign correspondents must file past midnight to meet deadlines an ocean away.
Major TV networks have committed dozens of staff members. Nearly four miles of television cables snake around the complex. The explosion of phone calls that a verdict will trigger prompted some news organizations to install land lines for fear the region's cell networks could become jammed.
The reporters do their work as Jackson fans crowded behind a chain-link fence hurl insults. On Thursday, Court TV anchor Diane Dimond was granted a restraining order barring an 18-year-old man from interfering with her work.
As the jury in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial completed a week of deliberations without reaching a verdict Friday and headed home for the weekend, about half of the credentialed crew of media members milled around outside.
The crowd of reporters is distinctly international, a reminder that Jackson's popularity remains intense outside the United States. News organizations from more than 30 countries are here.
''This trial is the perfect intersection of sex, crime and celebrity,'' said Jonathan Wilcox, an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. ''It makes it very much one-of-a-kind for the media.''
The salacious details are selling newspapers in Britain, where Jackson has a large fan base.
''The appetite for Michael Jackson is insatiable,'' said Graeme Massie, who has covered the trial for Splash, a British news agency. ''In the U.S., people may believe that Jackson's star has fallen, but in Europe it still shines brightly.''
The case is also being watched closely in Japan, which is considering using a jury system.
''People in Japan are interested in the King of Pop, but they also want to know how the jury will treat celebrities,'' said Wataru Ezaki, who works for a Japanese news organization in Southern California. ''They want to see if jurors can be fair. It's a very unique case.''
Though the press corps has swollen since the case went to the jury last week, many reporters relocated to this city of 88,000 for all the trial's four months.
For them, there is a weekly poker night, where one Los Angeles Times reporter has cleaned out his colleagues. Other diversions have included karaoke and mechanical bull riding, a challenge one female British TV producer mastered better than her American counterparts.
Reporters also have come to rely on eatmj.com, a gastronomical guide of eateries around town, created especially for the media.
Although many reporters look forward to the trial's end, some admit they will be sad to see their colleagues go.
''It feels a little bit like the end of summer camp,'' Massie said. ''It's a long time to be away from home, but you also get to meet people from different walks of life and get their opinion on things.''
The hackers have sent e-mails with the subject "Re: Suicidal attempt" and the message text: "Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt", said security software specialists at Sophos.
The e-mail asks recipients to click on a link that takes them to an Internet site which secretly installs malicious code on their computers.
"If you click on the link, the Web site displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos.
06-10-05 18:13 EDT
Not surprising more than OJ and Peterson. More of an international story.
Aren't we neat? What do we think of us?
Reminds me of a joke about two phychologists bumping into each other on the street.
Psy1: Hi, how am I doing?
Psy1: You're fine, how am I?
I remember the US Army has a division that was trained specifically for urban warfare and crowd control. They might need that division just to handle what will happen during the reading of the Michael Jackson verdict--guilty or not!
"An increasingly anxious Michael Jackson did his desperate best to keep smiling, and to present a brave face to the rest of the world... but, deep within: the fear gnawed... and grew..." :)
And the amount I don't give a damn about this trial is double those same feelings I had about OJ and Peterson, if that's possible. Trials like these which have zero impact on those who aren't directly involved take up so much time in the media, but I guess people without lives need something to do other than read a book about US history or something.
Especially if it's QUILTY, which I'm very much hoping it will be. This guy has used his (no longer) vast fortune to ruin many lives over a couple of decades. Everyone knows that this particular psychological aberration can not be cured, so if this jury does another "O.J." number and lets him walk, Jackson will continue molesting little boys. There is no way he won't.
There are too many enablers all around him, and they should be tried as well.
Char
Those jurors sure are inconsiderate. Surely they must know there are 2,200 journalists waiting on their verdict.
Clare Quilty ? 
But what do I know anyway? Just a geezer living in the Peoples Republic of Oregon.
,,gotta run..see ya!...
Exactly
2200 credentialed media? Maybe Michael will come out and dance for them after the verdict is read.
"Wherever the carcass shall be, there the vultures will also be gathered".
GUILTY!
...I've been at the computer for too long!! Funny! I didn't even realize it myself. Nuts.......I'd better quit!
Thanks, fieldmarshaldj!! Good thing I can laugh at myself!
Char :)
No wonder he's having back spasms....needs a bigger trike.
Well, he should be found guilty, but like with Nabakov's Mr. Quilty, he seems to have spread enough green around to assure that justice is eluded. Though I'm sure Jacko will not want to have the same ultimate fate of Quilty (at the hands of an angry parent or perhaps a former victim, rather than a Professor Humbert).
There are ten charges, of which one (conspiracy, extortion) carries 28 counts alone. So, from the description of Juror #2 who was chosen as Foreman, I think that this is a very dedicated, "perfectionist" kind of a jury. The Foreman took something like 12 notebooks full of his own notes during the 70 day trial.
He is obviously a meticulous fellow and wants to make sure that the jurors go over everything - all of the facts.
The evidence against Michael Jackson is overwhelming!
If he is allowed to walk (or dance) out of that courthouse, I'm going to be one very unhappy citizen, because of the future victims........and especially because he really shouldn't even be around those 3 little human beings whom he BOUGHT!
Nobody will ever convince me that they are his biological children, even by artificial insemination. It wasn't his sperm. Most people close to the 3 "procedures" say the same thing. He went through catalogues of nordic "donors" and selected the whitest, blondest ones he could find.......just like he selected the white, blond Debbie Rowe to participate in the generation of these offspring. It is quite appalling, really.
Char
Every one of these monster 'show' trials seems to divert attention and bandwidth from something far more important going on. Clinton blew it, who needed to wag the dog when there are opportunities like this?
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