Laci Peterson, Why the Hype??

2/11/03 | myself - el_texicano

[runningbear]

I guess you can still not get it, as long as you keep a closed mind. There are many reasons, but ultimately, a rehash of an OJ Simpson saga... Crime, murder, sex lies and video ... lure the general public to try to solve a mystery...... ;o)

[Marysecretary]

I wouldn't mind FOX (the only channel I watch for news) covered it in one program per evening, like Greta's, but they have to cover it in every news program, ad nauseum. Same for Michael Jackson. She's gone, just like Elizabeth Smart is gone, and she may never be found. Hopefully both of their bodies will show up one day and families can at least bury them. It's very sad but like you say, it's overdone. Everything is overdone, no matter what the tragedy.

[John H K]

I also tend to think that there's subtle racism by the medisa

It's not racism, it's simply adapting to your market.

The single largest market segment in this country is comprised of white people, because there are a lot more white people than anyone else. From a marketing standpoint, the most important people are middle and upper middle class white people because it's the most people with the most money.

And people identify the most with people similar to them; they don't have to be racists to do so...it's a simple fact of life.

Therefore, any time you have upper-middle class whites involved in a grisly or potentially grisly crime story, the news channels will go berserk. Jon Benet, Laci Peterson.....the women who killed her kids in Texas (that would have been even worse if she'd been a LITTLE better looking...not that she was ugly...but she was a little frumpy.)

In these disappearance stories the defense made of them is always that it can help find the person. Well, the coverage level is going well beyond what is necessary to get the picture out. Believe me, if I see Scott or Laci saunter through my backyard here in Maryland, I'll call somebody.

And from the relevance and "what if it was YOUR kids?" standpoint....don't really see that. If I get married, I'll make a mental note not to have an affair and off my pregnant wife and disappear....I don't need this level of coverage to be reminded of such.

Surprised I haven't been accused of being a sexist yet; as I've mentioned in other similar threads, Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame, LeBron James, etc. are equally irrelevant and a fairly large segment of men are obsessed with that.

However, for the most part, though there are exceptions, sports does get separated off into it's own channels/segments the majority of the time

What bugs people and certainly the original poster, I'm sure, is that this "true crime human interest soap opera" stuff crowds in on actual relevant news. What is really needed are separate segments and channels for this, like sports.

[SheLion]

I really don't have the answer to this, except if you notice when the news media gets their teeth sunk into a story, that's all they can talk about.

Also, remember the 4 college students that came up missing out west around Halloween. Remember them? 3 guys and a girl. They just disappeared off of the face of the earth.

Wonder why the news media stopped reporting on THEM? Strange.

[ewing]

I believe the evasiveness of Scott the husband is driving the story, without him there wouldn't be much to cover.

[ofMagog]

What was post #26?

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

I feel the same way. Every year mothers disappear and are fear murdered and they get no national attention. In my own family, a cousin disappeared in the 70s, and no one knows his name, and no big $ resources were spent trying to solve the mystery or crime. I resent having these names burned into our brains ...jon benet, lacy underall, and all of them. What book was it --1984? the one where everyone watched room sized TV all the time and called the people on TV their "family"...

[LiberationIT]

I'm with you. I never understood the hubbub over that little girl in Colorado or someone else named van Damme (sp?). I'm just out of the loop I guess.

I didn't spend a lot of time on Princess Di or John Denver and John-John Kennedy turning themselves into oil slicks off the coasts either.

[DonQ]

I think it has something to do with the enormity of the real events in today's world.

We have absolutely no control, and no real comprehension, of the terrorist threat, the situation with Iraq, with North Korea, the economy, etc. But a missing pregnant housewife is something we can understand .... and, what the heck, one of us viewers might actually stumble across her (or her body).

Ditto with watching "reality" TV shows, like Survivor or Joe Millionaire, or even "news" reports on Michael Jackson nose and/or sex life. The real news overwhelms us, but lust and greed we can comprehend.

[kidd]

It's not racism, it's simply adapting to your market.

You made a good argument. I think you are right. I also agree that there needs to be separate segments for the soap opera type news.

Good reply.

[Brian Allen]

Has anyone checked out Planned Parenthood's Multi-Billion Dollar Abortoir chain yet?

Maybe poor Laci's carcass got mixed up with the one and a half million other cadavers -- less the harvested organs and other saleable bits and pieces -- that have gone down that Evil Empire's drains since Laci went missing.

[newzhawk]

I love mysteries too- the popularity of the shows Forensic Files, dominich Dunne, the System,CSI tell it all- almost everyone does. My latest take on this is the man owed someone money- the wife may have been taken to get him to cough up the dough- but wait, he figures he can cash in on the insurance money to pay up-----or did he hire someone to take her off while he was conveniently fishing- ooooh the possibilities are endless- Now if it was my daughter that was missing- this guy would be tied up and beaten to get a straight answer out of him- he is in on it somehow. Charles Stuart in Boston killed his wife and tried to blame it on a black robber- it was sensationalism at it's best and sold the 911 show over the top.Better than Michael Jackson or Madonna

[wku man]

'That's my only complaint about Fox News. Whatever story they decide to run with.... they run it into the ground until it is dead, post mortem, burned out, old, tiresome, run down, ground in..... and then they talk about it more."

You're right. My complaints with FNC are first, the one you mentioned, and secondly their reliance on highly scandalous, sexually-charged non-stories like Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy and Michael Jackson, instead of reporting the real news of the day. The problem then arises that CNN and MSNBC, who are despearately clinging to life, see what FNC is doing and follow suit, not wanting to be buried that much deeper. The result is one good news channel and two crappy ones all reporting the same non-story, and driving it into the ground.

Of course, I also can't stand how FNC's writers have decided to remove all forms of the verb "to be" from their scripts. Every time I hear cutie-pie Shepard Smith say "President Bush in Washington today, signing into law a bill..." I want to put a few rounds through my TV screen. That's another story, though.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[John H K]

Yes, the other big thing is it's unresolved. If they simply found Laci dead in their house and Scott holding a bloody knife, it would have been a BIG story, but not quite as big.

[thoughtomator]

I'm with you 100% on this one. I have absolutely zero interest in the Laci Peterson case, and for some reason I can't explain it seems to get as much coverage as a Presidential election.

I also think that the coverage is a moral travesty. IF she was alive when the story broke, whoever had kidnapped her has likely killed her by now; thanks to the overwhelming news coverage, the incentive to do so and destroy the body is much higher than if the case was handled more discreetly.

Ditto for the Michael Jackson stories. The guy is a freak and belongs in a prison for child abuse and molestation. Feeding his ego with excessive airtime is extremely irresponsible.

I personally am very disappointed with Fox lately. I had held them to a higher standard. I thought that their judgement in choosing stories was superior and that was the reason for their success, but the Peterson/Jackson saturation is too much for me, I can't watch Fox anymore.

[Jaded]

Very, very true. The contrasts in the coverage of the disappearance of Jahi Turner and Danielle Van Dam in San Diego were startling. Jahi got some coverage but not the constant coverage. But you're not supposed to notice the disparity in coverage because the media would NEVER lie to you or lead you astray.

[John H K]

The News Channels have surprisingly low ratings compared to everyone else, even FNC.

This would probably make an interesting article, and I haven't seen the data, but I'd make an educated guess that there are times during the day when the total number of black or hispanic viewers of FNC, CNN, or MSNBC would comfortably fit in the bleachers of a high school football stadium, from what I've read about general viewing patterns.

[uvular]

Pregnant woman goes missing on Christmas Eve day.

Husband claims went fishing on Christmas Eve day-I think at this point, many people felt hinky.

Husband stays away from all media the first few days; again more hinkiness

Once husband starts speaking to the media, people question his explanations and demeanor in dealing with the fact her pregnant wife-who could potentially go into early labor at any time.

Then we find out about a life insurance policy recently taken out on wife, and verification of a recently acquired mistress. The hinkiness escalates.

I don't think anyone here-for the most part-are doing anything more than the investigators are-I would bet investigators, too, are throwing ideas around and seeing which ones stick. As stated by many others, people love a mystery, and who knows, maybe someone will come up with a theory, question, etc., that could assist in finding this person. This does not mean we do not care about impending war and other important stories. Maybe we're just not equipped to offer as many ideas to try and solve those problems?

Most of all, I thought this was a chat site, where we discuss the news of the day. If there's a subject brought up that I have nothing to offer, I either just read it to learn more about it, or I skip it altogether....

[Helms]

Because we have an OJ like psychopath roaming free.

[uvular]

Oops, HIS pregnant wife!

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