Nov
16
2006
dumbfounded
Tasteless and appalling don’t begin to describe this:
Fox will slaughter the competition the final week of the November ratings sweeps when it airs a two-hour interview in which O.J. Simpson details how he would have murdered his wife, Nicole, and Ronald Goldman more than 10 years ago.Had he done it.
Which he didn’t.
Just ask him.
He is, in fact, looking high and low for her killer as we write.
“O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened” will be broadcast over two nights, Monday, Nov. 27, and Wednesday, Nov. 29.
“If I Did It” is also the title of the former pro football player’s new book that, Fox said yesterday, hits bookstores Nov. 30…
(The Washington Post: “A Fox Shocker: In Depth With O.J. Simpson for A Ratings Boost” - 11/15/06)
This is beyond ridiculous.
Related: Slate explains some of the legal implications for Simpson. Even if this was taken as a confession, Simpson couldn’t be re-tried for the murders (it would be double jeopardy in California, and the Slate author seems to think it unlikely that the feds might pick it up), and the statute of limitations on perjury and obstruction of justice has lapsed.
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Comments
I’ve been seeing the news and promos for this online and I honestly still can’t believe it’s real. People always joke about how “news” programs stoop to very low levels to bring in viewers, but this is actually the best example of… I don’t know, maybe it’s that this is the first thing I cannot honestly comprehend anyone wanting to watch. Anyone. Maybe this means I’ve finally become too old, though I was hoping I could pretend to be hip at least til I was 30.
Seriously, though, to whom can this appeal? People who like hearing about REAL MURDERS from REAL MURDERERS who ESCAPED JUSTICE because of INCOMPETENCE and IDIOCY? Sometimes I’ll watch a show on TLC or Discovery about real crime solvers and therefore real killings, where the emphasis is on the seeking of justice. This, on the other hand, will help put money in the hands of a killer as he confesses his killings in a trumped up and flimsy “what if” scenario, waving the facts that could have put him away so many years ago over his victims’ families’ heads, just out of reach, like a middle-school bully. I mean, it’s grisly every way you look at it.
That this will get fantastic ratings is perhaps the most grisly thing of all.
Ben: Word, to just about everything.
One clarification, though: I don’t think this interview is being put out by Fox’s news division. Not that the average person would realize the difference without it being pointed out. (That’s not a comment on Fox journalism, just that I don’t think viewers necessarily realize the difference between what’s put out by the network and what’s actually classified as “news.”)
The interviewer in this case is Judith Regan, who heads the NewsCorp-owned publishing house that is releasing Simpson’s book. (Not a conflict of interest or anything.)
OJ, Fox, Fox News, television journalism — I don’t think anyone’s coming out of this looking good. But Fox is going to make a boatload of money, and I guess that’s all that matters. Ugh.
OJ’s my bitch.
Um, that’s beyond disturbing. Sure, I’m counting down the days till I’m back in Arlington surrounded by running water, but headlines like this remind me why I left in the first place, and make me even more wary than before. If I can quote you, YEESH!
Also, for follow-up reading, an article that confirms the relationship between the Fox network and Fox news. Yes folks, this is such a trashy topic, even the rightwingers want to disassociate with it!
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/16/oreilly-oj-simpson/