I'm going to make my argument of why Nancy Grace should be taken off the air. A little background about me first. I have a degree in journalism, have worked in a 24-hour newsroom, and have worked in television. What Grace represents is the worst kind of
yellow journalism. That is, raw sensationalism and scandal-mongering on relatively minor stories, often embellishing the facts with little or no research.
All journalism is biased, you can't get around that. The problem with her show is it's explicitly so. By keeping a her on, CNN and HLN are treading into dangerous waters. First of all, it diminishes the reputation of the network. It's ironic considering that CNN wants to differentiate itself from the tabloid-style FOX News. You can go on about Bill O'Reilly, but he's just a political commentator. He's just providing op-ed pieces for the network. Nancy Grace is being presented as an expert on law. Yet, she has shown time and time again a complete disregard for the legal process. At one point, she was being investigated for prosecutorial misconduct by attempting to draw comparisons to the accused and unrelated crimes. A legal no-no, and definitely a journalism no-no.
Grace has also gone on air and falsely accused people four times of very serious crimes. The most notorious being the 21-year-old Melinda Duckett case, where she grilled the girl on national TV over the disappearance of her two year old son. She was attacked for a lack of openness about the disappearance. Grace went on to implicitly accuse her of the murder. Duckett had not been named a suspect at the time. She committed suicide the next day. Grace refused to apologize, saying the suicide was as good as a confession. The family sued Grace and CNN, receiving $200,000 in a settlement last year. The funds will be donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The second time, she accused the Duke Lacrosse Team of raping a black stripper, once again accusing them of lying on national television. All men were acquitted after it was proven that the plaintiff had made the story up. Grace never apologized.
Third, she accused Richard Ricci of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, with very little evidence to support her claim. She then accused Ricci's girlfriend of covering up the crime. Ricci died in police custody. It was later proven that Ricci had no connection to the kidnapping whatsoever. During an interview with an uncomfortable Smart, Grace attempted to pry about the kidnapping, until Smart put her foot down.
Four, she accused Casey Anthony of murdering her child. Even going as far to implicitly suggest vigilante action be taken should Anthony be found not guilty. It stirred up such a storm that Anthony has gone into hiding. Worse still, a vigilante attempted to murder another women, mistaking her for the alleged child killer.
Grace is lucky she was only sued once. In media law, slander and libel are not situations you want to be in. They're career ruiners. Nancy Grace is still acting as she's in a court room. Of course in court, the accused has the defence on their side. This is not so in the court of public opinion. CNN is diminishing their reputation for keeping her own. I also believe that journalists do have a form of civic duty. Grace is not presenting proper facts in these cases. She's trying to convict without having any evidence in front of her. As a result, it's tainting the jury pool. The news has a duty to present the facts of these cases in a manner that's as objective as possible. Let the public make their own conclusions. Their duty is not to act as judge, jury, and executioner.
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