Last Friday, I was reading The Sacramento Bee’s Scene section, and came across an article written about JonBenet Ramsey. Apparently, the writer feels the press is getting too excited about JonBenet’s case, and would like to see the little girl just rest in peace. Something didn’t sit right with me about that.
I didn’t have to think very long about what was bugging me. The column was saying how there are many, many other children who have been murdered but don’t get media coverage, but because of JonBenet’s pageant background, we are interested in her. This may be true, to a point. But the fact remains that JonBenet, a little girl, was murdered and we don’t know who did it. Her parents have been under that "umbrella of suspicion," and if they didn’t do it, their names should be cleared. This all seems so obvious.
But the writer’s last comment was about how the real mystery here is; why do we still care about who killed her? I couldn’t believe that!
I wrote an email to the writer, explaining that regardless of why she is known world-wide, the fact remains that the whole world knows and cares about JonBenet Ramsey, and if the murderer has been caught, we all want to know. We have all adopted her. She is a child that belongs to the world, and we want to make sure her case is solved SO THAT she CAN rest in peace. She and her mother.
The writer wrote an email back to me saying that we don’t need the appalling, exploitive media coverage on this case. She bemoans the WAY the media has been all over this case. Yes, I guess it would be "nicer" if the tabloids were "nicer," but have they ever been? BIG FAT NO!! The world is interested in finding the bad guy here, and the media knows this, including this writer. Otherwise, she herself, wouldn’t be writing about JonBenet, right?
3 comments:
Well put. I agree completely.
Incidentally, the update on that pervert they caught in Thailand is that he is NOT the murderer. So the mystery continues.
I agree with both you and the writer. On the one hand, yeah, the girl deserves to have her killer found. We should still care about it. But it is true, she gets way more coverage than many others who have suffered the same fate. The part of the media getting out of hand is also true. Yes, when the guy confessed(although that is dead now), it was exciting news that brought out all the news agencies. But did we really need wall to wall coverage of the guy? Did we need reports on what the guy was WEARING and EATING on the plane ride over? Did we need a special report on what he was eating in prison? No. This is probably one thing she was talking about. Let's talk about the case. But let's stick to that and NOT wall to wall coverage of stuff that doesn't really apply or matter. And for the record, most of the time, I HATE that particular reporter you were talking about...
Now that it looks like this guy is an attention needer, I am sorry that the media paid so much attention to him. It is exactly what he wanted.
If ever there is another suspect, I hope the media will wait until there is very good evidence that it IS the killer, before they get everyone's hopes up again.
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