Okay. I know that even though Paris' release has superceded the coverage of the death of the Ohio Mom (Jessie Davis), but over the weekend, there was non-stop coverage of the arrest of her boyfriend, Bobby Cutts, Jr. I would like to know from the rest of you, why is her murder so compelling in the eyes of the media.

And knowing that there are murders of people across the country on a given basis, why does her story capture the media spotlight?

It's a sad story, imho. But, in the scheme of things, why are people across the country taken with her death and the uncovering of Mr. Cutts' past?

Is this really like the coverage of the Lacy Peterson murder case?

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Must be a slow news cycle, or maybe it is just easier to report on than the immigration vote or the troop surge. We can't have people paying all of their attention to our politicians.

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Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Sensationalism is the bread and butter of the MSM these days. The guy was a cop and he was married. The woman was young and good looking. It's much like the girl who disappeared in Aruba. In a country of over 300,000,000 this single event is statistically meaningless, but as long as they can wring some emotion from the audience they will run it.

It's as meaningless as something I saw a couple of months ago on MSNBC. A furniture store burned down in Minnesota (I believe). Nobody was hurt, nothing blew up, but they DID have a helicopter overhead so they kept breaking away to this "big story" every ten minutes. You know how people just love to see things burn, so it became a BIG story.
As big as a has-been actor and former athelete leading the cops on a three-hour, low speed chase. Now THAT was news!

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Not a day goes by that I don't see something that reinforces my belief that people are idiots.

People are fascinated with the Ohio killing because a horny cop did it. I question the IQ of those fascinated with this Paris thing. But this is America, and I guess we're free to focus on the things that fascinate us.

Me? I'm retired and I don't give a shit.

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They are all white and pretty. There is a young black woman that has gone missing while on vacation in Florida. Her parents have moved to Florida temporarily while she is being searched for. Have any of you seen that story anywhere on tv? Funny how selective these are. The media uses these stories to boost ratings and make money. They are certainly not doing this to help the police or the families. If that were the case, this woman's parents would have been on Larry King last night.

A White girl from New Jersey abandoned her baby in a hospital parking lot here in Delaware recently. They are searching all over for her and THAT isn't getting any ink either. I'm not so sure race is a factor, or at least not a very big factor.

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Not a day goes by that I don't see something that reinforces my belief that people are idiots.

Wellll... I also thought it might have something to do with race, until I found out a bit more about the case.

* Murderer is a cop
* He killed his girlfriend and unborn son
* Tried to cover it up

Everytime I saw that guys face on the news with the implicit understanding that he murdered his white girlfriend, I was like "another step backward for black folks in the public's eye." However, the piece of shit is fair game, given those factors mentioned above.


WEB

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I'm in between the responses of WEB and SmilaBee. When the story started out, the MSM took extra pains to be careful in their coverage of Bobby Cutts, Jr. and Jessie Davis. They portrayed it to be just "another average story about average people involved in a missing person's case". They even carefully tried to "not" accuse Bobby Cutts of the crime despite the fact that he gave an interview about it.

And then, last weekend, they took the velvet gloves off and started wailing on Mr. Cutts. Ms. Davis' mother, who appeared sympathetic by saying to the public before Mr. Cutts' arrest, "Please don't let it be Bobby." (to paraphrase). Her tears appeared geniune and feeling because she didn't want her grandson to have his father involved in the missing person's case.

And then, afterwards, the press let the Canton police distance themselves from Mr. Cutts. Then, the MSM (Fox and MSNBC especially) started trotting out the FBI profilers even before (according to Dr. Hare, creator of the profile for the psychopathic individual) they were able to thoroughly study Mr. Cutts' case history. They already called him a psychopath before a legitimate case study was done! And even for good measure, MSNBC trotted out a Black profiler to just "make sure" that the portrayal of Mr. Cutts' was fair and square in their eyes. And Ms. Davis' mother then appeared to be a "pillar of strength" as she "looked Bobby Cutts in the eye" during his arraignment.

It makes you wonder whether the answer is much more closer to Smilabee's interpretation of this media event. Now, that might not be the case. But, the MSM rarely, if not ever, focuses on non-white people who are victims. And if they are the victims, it is usually dealt with as a "non-event".

And, I think that this story in a lot of ways falls into the same camp as the Jonbenet Ramsey, Natalee Holloway, Laci Peterson camp of coverage in which places white women on a pedistal to be pitied and sympathized over while the Myesha Farrells of the world are seen as part of the problem with a lack of sympathy or acknowledgment.

This interpretation does not take away the fact that if Mr. Cutts and Ms. Farrell are proven in a court of law to have done the crime then they ought to receive the stiffest penalty under the law.

But, we have to keep in mind here that in this case as usual with the portray of the "white and the pretty" women who disappear, America (the MSM and the viewing public) usually go hunting for the ones involved quickly while other cases drag on for years and years without being solved.

And that goes for cold cases as well.

All I can say is that those who milked the OJ case dry and made their careers for it, just found another story in which a new generation of lawyers, criminal profilers and reporters will probably make their money not only from exploiting the pain of the victims, but of the accused as well.

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It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Cutts is the murderer. Is the evidence firmly against him? That's an open question.

@ Ceci As for your OJ comment, you didn't mention OJ's role in events after his aquittal.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Did_It

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WEB, you're right. OJ did in essence "exploit himself" after everyone else "exploited" his celebrity in order to make money. I'm not arguing against that. But, if OJ was wise, he would retire in seclusion out of the public eye and refuse to go public with anything else again due to the tension and public outcry his case has brought to the public.

I'm also not arguing against the fact that Bobby Cutts is implicated somehow in the disappearance and murder of Jessie Davis either. He deserves whatever he gets. But still, it is best for a court of law to settle this instead of the media. But, he's already lost the court of public opinion because even the "ambulance chasers" (i.e. the Gloria Allreds, etc.) have said their two cents on this case before all the facts are in. Even if there were another side of the story, he's already guilty in the eyes of the public and will always be so no matter what else he says.

What I am saying that no matter what happens, the media exploits pain in nefarious ways to get ratings. Furthermore, the MSM also uses a "type" of person in order to draw the audience in terms to make the story compelling. Imho, the "story" is not about the victims nor the accused at all, in a way. It is about advertising--especially if the cable/regular network caters to the needs of a specific target audience (i.e. 18 to 35, middle-class, white viewers) who will buy the products advertised in between the news story of Ms. Davis' demise.

And no matter who is guilty or innocent, I wonder whether it is right for the MSM to do so.

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