[MichaelP]

audience whore... nee OJ

Mike

[MeanWestTexan]

I'll pay attention when she's no longer a Scientologist and married to a scummy plaintiffs' lawyer.

[Crackingham]

That should pay for her next facelift.

[LongsforReagan]

She would thank Scientology for her success, I bet.

[Always Right]

But while doing this, Van Susteren has been rewarded with her biggest audiences since making the switch from CNN three years ago.

LOL, that would be her biggest audiances ever. I don't think she was ever even close to a million at cnn.

[jdm]

It's time for Americans to boycott Aruba. The Aruban authorities bungled the first 72 hours of the investigation, released two key suspects, issue (very) short-term permits to search a landfill, etc. At best, the Aruban authorities are making progress difficult -- at worst, continually obstructing justice.

It's like the Aruban government doesn't want anyone to find Natalee.

[soundandvision]

She averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers a night in July, up 58 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN's Aaron Brown used to put up a tough fight in the time slot; now Van Susteren routinely triples his audience. She narrowly missed 3 million on July 26, her biggest audience this year.

I wrote an 'article' here on FR about the obsession with Natalie Holloway and shark attack stories, earlier in the summer. And the crux was this: the only people that really control and regulate how much time news departments and hosts spend on topics such as this is us.

If no one was watching Van Susteren, she wouldn't devote much time to this. Stories like this are fueled by viewership and the only people that can be held culpable in weirdo fascination with these stories are the people watching. The hosts are going to go where the ratings are and as long as there's an audience for this stuff (and a big one, at that) then hosts will continue to devote whole segments and indeed HOURS to this type of story.

[Brilliant]

The reason the media is so fascinated by this story is that it gives them an opportunity to spend time in Aruba.

[injin]

Personally I appreciate what Greta has been doing for the Holloway case very much. Beth Holloway is a real fighter ,but she needs all the allies she can get . Who better than Fox News!? If people don't care to watch it there is always the remote.
Personally I am waiting for Greta to announce that late last night, mysterious men ,dressed all in black , landed by Zodiac
on Aruba and grabbed Joren and his father and no one has seen them since....

[radar101]

Sorry, but I quit watching Greta about the second day of this trivial BS.

[brownsfan]

Greta's act is disgusting. But, she makes an excellent point:

"I obviously don't program for the people in the newsroom or my friends or the people I went to law school with. I program for the viewers."

It's not her fault that she's pushing sludge. Americans can't wait to lap that stuff up. The veiwers really do get what they want. Fortunately, I don't have to tune in to what others seem to want.

[kublia khan]

I'm sure she has gained many but shows like Hannity and hers that go wall to wall week after week with story's like Shiavo and Holloway loose viewers like me. The facts in the Holloway case are so skewed now by these shows and their "experts" the truth will probably never be known. The hue and cry for FBI involvent repulsed me at the outset. Holland is a sovereign nation and has no compelling interest in allowing the national police force of another country to investigate a crime that occurred In one of their possessions. An assumption seems to be that the FBI could solve this case because they are the Fa Ba I as Lector put it. But the truth of the matter is no law enforcement agency always gets their man and if you believe that you've watched too many cop shows on TV.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

[COEXERJ145]

I will no longer watch Fox (or any other network) if they're talking about this story. They have driven it into the ground so much that it is sickening.

If the girl had been fat and ugly, the media wouldn't give a d*am about her.

[Phantom Lord]

I don't understand the constant coverage of this and the ever growing audience watching the coverage.

There has not been a single development in this case in over 60 days! NOT ONE!

[dead]

One of three Aruban kids did it (probably the non-brother), and the other two know all the circumstances involved.

There. I just solved the case. Now let's move on to something else.

Still, I'm not watching that irritating Greta Van Schlushtering no matter what story she covers.

[cvq3842]

The Holloway situation is tragic. Her poor family. I have much sympathy for them.

But it is NOT, in my view, a news story that affects the average American as, say, oil prices or the terrorist attacks do.

I think the wall to wall coverage is exploitative and sensationalistic, as many posters do. But someone is watching it!

Greta may give herself a bad name for hyping a "tabloid" story, and she may deserve it, but the people encouraging this by giving her great ratings are the ones I'd blame.

[LibWhacker]

Van Susteren said she spends an hour or two a day combing through e-mails from viewers on the case, and they often supply her with good questions.

I've been wondering how she comes up with such excellent questions during her missing-cheerleader shows, but never once managed to ask a single good one during the entire Clinton impeachment scandal.

[stuartcr]

Nothing like a good tragedy and the endless reporting of it, to make people happy...

[WestTexasWend]

Not defending Greta at all...the only thing I catch on occasion is Brit Hume...but she's just tapping into something that appeals to a lot of people: a who-done-it.

She's also doing it at a time when the other channels are slogging through the quagmire ;) of Rove & Roberts.

A criminal mystery beats a political misery every time...