Within a few minutes of this post, O.J. Simpson is going to be sentenced to prison. I cant even imagine the national interest that would have accompanied such a development 13 years ago.
I was in the newsroom of the Freeport Journal-Standard in 1995 when perhaps the longest media circus in the modern history of journalism The Trial of the Century ended in a verdict for Simpson of not guilty in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Actually, I was in the conference room at that time, where the television with the cable feed was.
The room was fuller than it was for mandatory meetings. It seemed everyone was there, waiting to see what the verdict would be. Everyone was talking about it. Most people in the room, I recollect, were rooting for Simpson to be found guilty.
Because it was a morning verdict, and the Freeport newspaper was an afternoon publication at the time, the jurys decision was coming right at deadline. So we went to the extent of having two front pages ready ... one announcing Simpsons innocence, the other his guilt. We simply were waiting for the verdict to decide which plates to use.
There are a lot of people who, even today, say how sick they are of hearing about O.J. Simpson. The coverage of the trial back then was relentless and largely unavoidable. It created a whole new set of star talking heads on television, most notably Greta Van Susteren, whose parlayed that time in the spotlight into quite a career.
I admit that I was entirely wrapped up in the trial and the coverage. I was working in Roanoke, Va., when most of the trial was going on. I worked nights in the sports department at the newspaper, so I was at home during the much of the time the trial was broadcast live. I found the trial, and the medias coverage of it, fascinating.
I still do, to a certain extent.
But today, theres just not nearly as much interest as Simpson faces serious time in the slammer for a kidnapping and armed robbery conviction in a goofy Las Vegas incident. The preview story of the verdict is on Page A2 of todays Times, and news of his most recent troubles only was sporadically published in our paper.
Of course, there are much more important and captivating things happening in 2008. An economy in ruins (can you believe more than a half million jobs were lost last month alone?!), the first black president and two wars abroad receive, and deserve, far more coverage than the conviction and sentencing of a former football star.
I dont necessarily know what the difference between the levels of interest between Simpsons sagas says about us as people and the media today, or in 1995, for that matter. But I do find the comparison interesting, and perhaps a bit satisfying.
I was in the newsroom of the Freeport Journal-Standard in 1995 when perhaps the longest media circus in the modern history of journalism The Trial of the Century ended in a verdict for Simpson of not guilty in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Actually, I was in the conference room at that time, where the television with the cable feed was.
The room was fuller than it was for mandatory meetings. It seemed everyone was there, waiting to see what the verdict would be. Everyone was talking about it. Most people in the room, I recollect, were rooting for Simpson to be found guilty.
Because it was a morning verdict, and the Freeport newspaper was an afternoon publication at the time, the jurys decision was coming right at deadline. So we went to the extent of having two front pages ready ... one announcing Simpsons innocence, the other his guilt. We simply were waiting for the verdict to decide which plates to use.
There are a lot of people who, even today, say how sick they are of hearing about O.J. Simpson. The coverage of the trial back then was relentless and largely unavoidable. It created a whole new set of star talking heads on television, most notably Greta Van Susteren, whose parlayed that time in the spotlight into quite a career.
I admit that I was entirely wrapped up in the trial and the coverage. I was working in Roanoke, Va., when most of the trial was going on. I worked nights in the sports department at the newspaper, so I was at home during the much of the time the trial was broadcast live. I found the trial, and the medias coverage of it, fascinating.
I still do, to a certain extent.
But today, theres just not nearly as much interest as Simpson faces serious time in the slammer for a kidnapping and armed robbery conviction in a goofy Las Vegas incident. The preview story of the verdict is on Page A2 of todays Times, and news of his most recent troubles only was sporadically published in our paper.
Of course, there are much more important and captivating things happening in 2008. An economy in ruins (can you believe more than a half million jobs were lost last month alone?!), the first black president and two wars abroad receive, and deserve, far more coverage than the conviction and sentencing of a former football star.
I dont necessarily know what the difference between the levels of interest between Simpsons sagas says about us as people and the media today, or in 1995, for that matter. But I do find the comparison interesting, and perhaps a bit satisfying.
