There are about 15,000 murders in the United States each year and most go unnoticed and unreported. A tiny handful captures the attention of the public as did the trial of Jodi Arias. Why is that?
Humans are drawn to a freak show and this woman clearly fits that bill. But is that all? I don’t think so. I think the media picks and chooses this sort of thing. After all, they are subject to ratings like anything else on TV and this case had all the elements of a primetime drama. Essentially, the media chooses for us and directs our attention to what they think we ought to care about.
Yesterday, as the whistleblowers were testifying before Congress about the Benghazi cover-up, the news came out that the jury had reached their verdict in Arias’ murder trial. I am certain that there was a collective sigh of relief in newsrooms across the country, and fist-bumps all around. Here was a bright, shiny object for the media to hold up and say, “Look! Over here! Never mind that congressional investigation. The verdict is in on the crazy woman. This is what you need to know. This is what you ought to be paying attention to.”
And so the news across the nation is set. Jodi Arias’ fate takes the headlines. The story of the Benghazi cover-up is relegated to the politics section and presented as partisan bickering about an incident that “happened a long time ago.” As Whitehouse spokesman, Jay Carney, continues to lie even yesterday about the talking points, the media is telling us to move along. There’s nothing to see here.
For those of us who have been watching this since the beginning, who have been waiting for the truth to be exposed, this is all bittersweet. The media is setting the template and how this all ends has already been written.
It’s crystal clear now that President Obama, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador Susan Rice and their support staffs have been lying to us since 9/11/12. The narrative that, under President Obama, terrorism had been defeated had to be protected to ensure his reelection just weeks later.
And four Americans, in service of the nation, died horrible, violent deaths because of it.
Those who step forward to tell the truth will pay a heavy price. Years of service to their country will be wiped away as they are threatened and demoted to paper-pushers. Make no mistake that this is a warning to anyone else thinking about speaking up.
Jodi Arias will pay for her crime with her life, whether she’s executed or spends the rest of her days in prison.
But who will pay for the deaths of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Ty Woods?
Some observers are saying that this is President Obama’s Watergate. But the key element in President Nixon’s fall was a relentless press that kept his missteps in the news day after day, week after week. The press wanted to take Nixon out.
This is not the case with the media today and their relationship with President Obama. Actually, that relationship is the exact opposite of the one with Nixon. The members of our media today are firm supporters of this president and have already demonstrated that they will protect him at any cost. They will promote any lie, ignore any shortcoming and attack any adversary. They may allow some flunky, some low-level staffer to take heat for stepping outside the lines, but the president and members of his administration are safely in their embrace.
This is how it works now. Too many Americans have abdicated their duty to keep themselves informed and rely on a corrupt media to tell them what to think. The media is free to call the shots when the public simply follows that bright, shiny object.
And so, while the public is distracted and wondering who will win American Idol and what fate awaits Jodi Arias, our government has a free rein to do as they please, secure that they will never be held to account. If you’re looking for any kind of justice and hoping that your elected leaders will have to answer for what they’ve done, you are going to be disappointed.
The ending has already been written in the newsrooms of America.
-Kathy