THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407140663
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH MONROE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
WHAT'S THE ENTERTAINMENT blockbuster of the summer? ``The Lion King''? Woodstock II? No, it's the O.J. Simpson story that has real juice. And TV has been shameless about squeezing it for all it's worth, which turns out to be millions.
It began when no less than eight broadcast and cable channels scrubbed regular programming to follow Simpson's drive across Los Angeles in a now-famous Ford Bronco - video supplied by a flock of helicopters.
Since then, every turn in the story has dominated the evening news, the talk shows and especially the news magazines. From ``Dateline'' to ``Turning Point,'' from ``Primetime Live'' to ``20/20,'' from ``Now'' to ``Eye to Eye,'' there's no escaping O.J. Afternoon soap operas were ditched in favor of live gavel-to-gavel coverage of the preliminary hearing. Nightly recaps ran.
It is a study in overkill and the logical conclusion of long-standing TV news trends. The tabloidization of TV may have started when a new nightly show - ``Nightline'' - was invented for the express purpose of counting how many days hostages had been held by Iran and beating to death the latest nondevelopments.
The Iranian-hostage show helped bring down a president. And feeding frenzies by the media have come to characterize political coverage in the era of Iran-Contra and Whitewater. Many local stations have discovered that graphic violence increases viewership, leading to the news motto: If it bleeds, it leads.
Oddly, the networks were slow to grasp the full potential of trials like those featuring William Kennedy Smith and the Menendez brothers. It took Court TV and CNN to show that there was a huge audience that could be held rapt by day after day of courtroom drama as titillating as any soap opera and cheaper to produce.
By the time the Simpson case arrived, the networks were ready to throw taste and moderation to the winds and clamber aboard. It's already paid off. Coverage of the hearings garnered Nielsens almost 50 percent higher than the regular soaps. Audiences for evening news magazines and specials dealing with the case have also been big.
Accused of overdoing it, anchors like Sam Donaldson have claimed that the demand for ever more O.J. coverage is justification enough for pumping it out. But if America also couldn't get enough of pornography or chain saw massacres or stories about alien invaders, vb would that excuse news departments from filling the air with such fare?
That rationale may be good enough for the entertainment side of the business, but the news side once claimed to adhere to a higher standard and to exercise some news judgment, to have an obligation to put matters in perspective by quantity of coverage as well as quality.
If quantity is any guide, the Simpson case is more important than health care reform, the condition of the Clinton presidency, the fate of the nation's defenses, the strength of the world's economy and the violence in the Caribbean, the Balkans and Africa. In fact, the double murder in L.A. is the most important news event of the year.
After an initial binge, most newspapers have backed off and have been more restrained about filling their pages with the Simpson case, the whole Simpson case and nothing but the Simpson case. Rather than indicating more responsible news judgment, however, this may simply indicate less sophisticated audience measurement methods. If newspaper editors got overnight Nielsens, they too might be tempted to tailor their product to the dictates of vox populi.
And complaints about the tabloidization of TV have to be kept in perspective. Edward R. Murrow may be spinning in his grave, but mainstream TV has largely stuck to the facts and recruited sober talking heads to comment on the case. Sure, some commentators sounded as if they didn't really mean it when they said, ``Thank God O.J. has decided to surrender rather than commit suicide right here on national TV.'' But at least they said it.
For the real tabloidization, you have to go to the sleazier reaches of talk radio and the tabloids themselves. There, the accused has already been tried and convicted. And the bizarre circumstances that drove him to his crimes are splashed all over the place.
Take The Globe - please. Its screaming headline is: ``O.J.'s Dad Was Drag Queen Who Died of Aids: Shocking insight into his troubled childhood with kinky father who beat him.''
Or consider The Star. ``Sex Secrets That Drove O.J. Crazy.''
``Shocking truth about Nicole's 911 Call - O.J. caught her making love while kids slept in next room.''
``Revealed at last - He beat his first wife too.''
``Exclusive - O.J. brags to jailmates: I'm gonna walk.''
It's probably only a matter of time until Rush Limbaugh is trying to pin the murders on the Rose Law Firm or Jerry Falwell is pitching a tape that suggests Clinton is behind them.
TV's treatment of this case, so far, may have been excessive. But compared to the nether world of the media, it's still a model of decorum and reserve. Of course, the case is far from over. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coverage of O.J. Simpson's preliminary hearing garnered Nielsens
almost 50 percent higher than for regular soap operas, and evening
audiences for the case have also been big.
by CNB