The Casey Anthony Effect

(Posted on 21/07/11)

As millions of Americans take a step back from the trial of the summer and the one deemed the "social networking trial of the century", also known as the Casey Anthony Murder Trial, many questions linger on many fronts.

One of the biggest conundrums is what the country will learn from the brutally biased American media. For close to three years, one American journalist, who was also once a prosecutor in the state of Georgia, has followed the trial with a vengeance and clear hatred of the young woman who was acquitted in the death of her three year old daughter, Caylee. From the moment the child went missing, Nancy Grace, who hosts her own show on Headline News, an American news network, began drawing in viewers like catnip for a cat. While the country enjoys liberal freedom of press rights, there are also compliance issues that journalists must follow when reporting on those accused or suspected of committing crimes. Grace crossed the line many times over those three years. By the time the trial started in an Orlando, Florida courtroom, public hatred for Anthony was at an all time high. That, along with the most tawdry human behaviors and accusations, including sexual abuse by Anthony's brother and father (which was never proven in court), along with the prosecution's efforts of painting Anthony as a loose woman whose priorities were severely misplaced, the entire trial became fodder for the media and public alike.

The prosecution underestimated the jury and assumed Grace had basically done its job and all the prosecutors needed to do was sit back and enjoy the ride. It did not present all of the evidence it had that might could have changed the final result of not guilty verdicts. Instead, its assumptions left only one alternative for the jury: to find Anthony not guilty of the three most serious charges, including murder, which could have sent Anthony to the Florida death row. She would have been only the fourth one in the state's history of applying the death penalty. One juror said, "The prosecution proved nothing and certainly not murder or child abuse".

Now, and after Grace and other unethical pundits have groused about how Anthony or her other family members should not be allowed to profit off of the case by selling book or movie rights, it was announced HLN had the highest ratings in its 29 year history - and all due to the Casey Anthony trial. The blogosphere is fuming. One blogger wrote:

I’ve long since voiced my disgust at their lack of ethical reporting and what I believe are biased reporting methods by Headline News and its so-called "journalists". Even after the not guilty verdicts came back on the three biggest charges Anthony faced, they continued to make comments such as "She murdered her daughter" and "We know she killed her baby, we might not know how, but we know she did." You can’t do that. Or at least, you can't do that, expect to get away with and not be sued for defamation, which is exactly what many are hoping will happen to Nancy Grace, Jane Valez Mitchell and Vinnie Politan.

So could it be there are legal repercussions for the network? No one's quite sure, but if Casey Anthony's lawyer's threats come full circle, it just might be that the network will be tested to see just how loyal it is to its pundits. Chaney Mason has voiced his commitment of following through on what he called illegal and unethical practices.

Photo of Casey and her 2 year old daughter, Caylee, shortly before she went missing and her mother was charged with her death. Photo courtesy of ABC News.