In Casey Anthony case, TV's rush to judge
Casey Anthony holds hands with her defense attorney, Jose Baez, as they listen to the verdict, not guilty on murder charges, at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Fla. (July 5, 2011) Credit: AP
To "Headline News" anchor Nancy Grace, she was the "tot mom" -- the very embodiment of evil, and, incidentally, a three-year obsession.
To the rest of TV media, she was a ratings magnet whose trial for murder yielded countless hours of coverage on local TV in Orlando, national cable, specials on the major TV networks last night, and lead stories on the three nightly newscasts.
Casey Anthony: Why, again, was her trial for murder one of the biggest TV stories of the year?
With the acquittal verdict Tuesday, here were just some of the other more obvious media questions in its wake -- too much? Too frantic? And . . . too wrong?
HLN's Grace, along with Anthony field reporter Jane Velez-Mitchell and HLN "Prime News" host Vinnie Politan, have campaigned tirelessly for Anthony's conviction, but Tuesday were unbowed even though lawyers on both sides had chastised the media for its overheated coverage.
"We didn't have anything to do with it -- this was all tot mom," said Grace. And she added a bit later after Anthony's defense team was seen having champagne, "Somewhere out there the devil is dancing tonight." (A spokeswoman for HLN said Grace was not available to comment.)
Kerry Sanders, the veteran NBC News reporter who has covered Anthony since the beginning as well, said by phone Tuesday, "I don't want to call this overkill -- and some people feel it was overdone -- but when looked at from the totality of media coverage, we presented it in balance. Yes, I was surprised that every TV station in Orlando and a local cable news channel was on this trial 24/7, [but] you can't argue with peoples' interest, and this wasn't the media leading [on] the people. They were genuinely interested."
"This case was interesting because it's about a family that looked like everyone else's," said Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48 Hours Mystery," which has covered Anthony over the years and produced Tuesday night's "Casey Anthony: Judgment Day" special on CBS.
But was Grace and HLN's overall coverage -- which essentially convicted Anthony three years ago -- wrong?
Zirinsky declined to comment on Grace -- "I work for CBS" -- but she noted, "I believe that you can never, ever, come to closure on something until it is done."
