I am a journalist.
Hopefully, I am able to find a job that allows me to tell the news as it is and to give a descriptive account of whatever happens. However, unlike an athlete or doctor where there are many people to look up to, there are few media personalities that FULLY do their jobs correctly, in my opinion anyways.
One of my biggest pet peeves involves media personalities that feel the need to portray certain people a certain way, whether or not the person actually is that way. I greatly dislike paparazzi because all they do is follow celebrities around, trespass sometimes on their propery on personal lives, and the second something goes any form of wrong: they snap a picture of it and get money for that. This is not news. Nor is this good media.
The same goes with big time stories. Let's use the biggest story of the week (and of recent history) for instance: Casey Anthony was of course acquitted of first degree murder in the alleged killing of her daughter, Caylee. Now think: six months ago, had you ever heard of the name Casey Anthony? Probably not.
Now, do you know 100% that she did anything to her daughter in terms of murdering her? The answer should be no. Unless you are either involved or closely associated to the Anthonys.
This is where the media comes in. I don't know whether the police had little evidence in general or just leaked certain pieces to the media, but either way, the media (both social and physical) portrayed Casey in a certain light, which then caused the nation to come up with their own opinions. And for the most part, everyone hates Casey and thinks she should be convicted or worse, even though we know VERY little about what really happened.
As the media so greatly established, Casey obviously did things like party and lie and change her story that we may think of as the "not normal" way of reacting to one's daughter's death. However, when the media exposes JUST this information (very little actual evidence--not that the prosecution had much or anything--> see: ACQUITTAL), the American public are then able to make judgments based on what they see and read about.
This leads to the nationwide feeling of shock and utter confusion after the acquittal. Everyone saw what Casey did post-death and felt like she got away with murder.
Now, I don't know if she is guilty or not (The only people that do are either dead or are recently not guilty), but I believe that there has to be solid evidence in order for any conviction to be made. Our law and judicial system is pretty much awesome because of this. One cannot (or at least should not) judge a person based on what the media puts out there because usually there is SO much more to a story than what is shown.
Chalk this one up to the prosecution and the investigators dropping the ball. Obviously there was not enough evidence for the jury to say guilty or they would have. These are not stupid people. There was a skeleton, statements, and other (circumstantial) evidence. This is quite a bit to have for a case that has been multiple years since it happened. Police have solved cases with much less, sometimes with no body (look it up or watch Investigation Discovery. Either way.).
This lack of evidence led the media to show what little they had becuase anything beats nothing when ratings season comes around. As long as ratings are up, it seems that it doesn't matter who is harmed in the process. This isn't the first time nor will it be the last time. Nor will this be the end of Casey in the media. For months or years down the road, Casey will be the talk of newscasts nationwide, as well as the talk of haters who, in their opinion, think she killed Caylee, whether there is evidence or not.
I guess the saddest part for me is looking on Facebook and seeing statuses saying things like "Florida! You let a killer go free!" or "that jury sucked ass hard!!!" or even "chloroforming casey anthony brb" and "Pretty sure the jury is on drugs or something" and "Proof that our judicial system is crap". It makes me sick that people tend to flip flop based on one trial that they don't agree with in their opinion.
It is alright to have opinions, just throw in a little common sense with it, do you mind? Thank you! :) Good Night!
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