The Boulder Circus

***This post is in response to a question from a journalism professor about whether the attention the JonBenet story receives is warranted***

For years, far too many news resources have been dedicated to this story. Two thoughts about that: one, at a time of crisis oversees that speaks to the sad state of what we will pander to and what our audiences consume. Two, once a story takes a certain prominence, like the Ramsey case has, it will never go away -- except perhaps with a conviction.

When I was here for the initial investigation and then grand jury hearings in the late 90s, I was always torn on this issue. Compared with the Middle East conflict, and the Iraq war, THIS IS NOT news, nor should it be in any normal time. However exciting for the reporter assigned to a story, we should always be asking: is it newsworthy? There are many, many incredible elements to this story -- with so many twists and turns no one could imagine. But does it deserve the prominence it has been given? Absolutely not.

Who does this story effect anyway? The answer would be nobody, if it wasn't so prominent. But here in Boulder, in some way everyone is affected. Most are just repulsed that all the reporters crawling around are putting their town back under an intense spotlight.

The problem here is every little development has been covered intently. Once that happens, the circus taking its three rings elsewhere is unlikely.

In a number of my live shots and Q & As yesterday, I found myself making the point that should the arrest of John Mark Karr ultimately exonerate John Ramsey, this case will surpass the Richard Jewell case and others as a case study in media ethics gone totally wrong (in many ways it already has).

John, and before her death, Patsy, and the rest of the Ramsey family, have been put through the wringer. They were long ago convicted in the court of public opinion despite a good amount of exculpatory evidence. Should they be cleared of the crime, I only hope the way we in the media approach certain stories will change.

From day one, this case should never have received the attention it did. That said, the timing of the murder during a slow news period (Christmas 1996), coupled with the fact JonBenet looked like an angel, changed everything about what would otherwise simply be the murder of a child. What really propelled the initial television coverage, I think, was the fact there was video of her pageants. And once the Denver stations latched on, national followed and never let up.

Here in the parking lot of the Boulder County Courthouse, the 30 satellite trucks and 120 or so reporters who were at yesterday's presser demonstrate this story is not going away. Being caught up reporting the latest, I haven't been able to see much of the on-air coverage, but know it's dominating. It shouldn't, but it is.

On Assignment: Arrest in the Jon Benet Ramsey murder

***Piece was written the night August 16th, though not posted until August 17th***

Vacations never seem to go as planned. And this one is no exception. Back home in Colorado for a little R & R, everything was turned upside down today.

After nearly 10 years, police have made an arrest in the Jon Benet Ramsey murder. Having covered the initial investigation and subsequent grand jury hearings, I knew my vacation was over. I write this from Boulder tonight. It's 9:27. I'll be able to catch a couple of hours of sleep before an early wake up call. Then it's over to the Boulder County Courthouse to begin live hits (live shots) beginning at 4:00 a.m. mountain time for stations around the country.

Boulder County DA Mary Lacy will hold a press conference at 10:00 a.m. , I'll be there and intend on blogging this assignment throughout. Hopefully, we'll get a better answer as to who the suspect is.

Over the course of the day, those of us who have covered the case have found ourselves asking just who is John Mark Karr?

This much we know: he was picked up in Thailand on unrelated sexual assault charges, he may have taught as a 2nd grade teacher at an elementary school in either Boulder or Atlanta, or both. Aside from that it's a name were told even the Boulder Police department was unaware of before a phone call this morning from the Boulder DA's Office. Apparently, the Boulder DA's Office Jon Benet Ramsey Task Force has been handling this development without help from Boulder PD. That's an entirely different story though. They Boulder Police and Boulder DA's Office have never had a warm relationship, making the story that much more interesting.

For news observers and observers of the media...GET READY! This is just the beginning of a prolonged legal saga...and the media circus is coming to town.

Blogging and Journalism: A New, Questionable Frontier

This marks August Skamenca's first blog entry. After questioning the relevancy of the cyber-phenomena he decided to embark on his own quest to get a better understanding of the allure of the blog.

Ask anyone in my field if blogging is journalism and the hard and fast answer is “no.” As I type this Microsoft Word even tells me blogging is not accepted as a word, as evidenced by correction red beneath the word itself. Blogger (and bloggers) are not recognized by Word either.

Wondering if I just have an outdated version of Word, I made a quick check of dictionary.com. It [blogger] is there, along with blog…blogging is not. Though it does turn up as a noun under blog.

While linguists may be slow to catch on, others have not been. Look online and the cyber-community is exploding with hundreds, probably thousands of new bloggers everyday. Blogging has become a sub-culture of the Internet community. But again, is it journalism? In some cases. Journalists do blog.

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has his “Daily Nightly.” The folks over at CBS have “Public Eye,” an ombudsman’s site of sorts, frequently turning a critical eye on its own news broadcasts.

Now, this journalist has taken of leap of blind faith. I’m going to blog. Sure the word seems foreign to my vocabulary, but why not? How long will I do it? I don’t know. Will I like it? I don’t know. Whatever the outcome, blogging is a new frontier. Giddyup.

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