This week saw the second hearing for David Aptaker for justice of the family and probate court.
What wasn't covered by the media was majority of the subsequent questions asked him by the...
Was US media sympathetic to Amanda Knox?
posted on December 11, 2009
Last weekend, 22-year old Amanda Knox was convicted of murdering her roommate in the fall of 2007. The 11-month trial got intense coverage in Italy where it was generally believed she was guilty. But Knox's coverage in the US was far more sympathetic.
Comments
I have watched a lot of the Amanda Knox coverage, most of which has been jingoistic. After listening to the panel tonight, I was sorry no one apparently had seen the Dateline piece after the verdict, which prominently featured the Newsweek correspondent who'd been there for a year or more and had very measured and insightful comments on the proceedings and on Knox's guilt or innocence. And the parents were omitted in that piece too.
It is too bad the panel did not mention an underlying issue for American press coverage in a situation like this, which is to remind readers/viewers that the U.S. constitution does not follow you abroad and if you get into a fix, you will be judged by another country's laws. Whether those laws are fair or not does not matter, you are there.
Traveler beware - look it up under "Midnight Express."
The guy in Midnight Express was guilty of smuggling drugs, just as Amanda Knox is guilty of a heinous murder. I agree with the statement that if Knox wanted an American trial she should have murder in America. But frankly she would have probably got the death penalty had she been tried here. As it is she got off with an extremely light sentence. She'll be out before she's fifty.
The coverage world-wide has been biased one way or another. What's most disturbing is the willingness of reporters to take a little bit of this or that as they please and blow the whole thing into a scandal of the first order, regardless of the bits they're reporting. Doesn't anyone find it disturbing that the comments appearing after each article on this case are pretty much the same talking points, whether for the victim or for the accused? The whole reaction to this case smacks of opportunism and unhealthy interest in a rather gruesome crime. Sympathy for the victim is an excuse for vigilantism for some and sympathy for the accused is some sort of badge of honor for others. The whole thing is quite disgusting.
Shame on you all for saying "IF she is guilty" about Amanda Knox. This is very sloppy. She IS guilty: that's what the court said, and that's the legal definition of guilt. Saying "if" underlines the US press's bias in this story, and undermines a fundamental of the legal process. She will remain guilty until a court so rules.