I have previously discussed my views about Nancy Grace and her genre of legal commentary. (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). This week Grace is being mocked for another controversial appearance on Good Morning America where she shouts “porn” repeatedly in an interview on the the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. She was appearing with ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams and appears upset that neither the anchor nor Abrams want to talk about porn as opposed to the developments in the case.
Grace interrupts Abrams who was making a comment on the trial record to say that Pistorius looked for porn just before the shooting of his girlfriend. Abrams has a look of utter bewilderment bordering on disgust as Grace yells “porn” over his voice when the two fail to immediately divert the segment into the more salacious detail. She then protests “I notice neither of you want to touch it with a ten-foot pole that he was up trolling the internet for porn just before he kills her, but I’ll save that for another day.”
The question is why Good Morning America continues to degrade legal coverage with such segments with Grace. The answer is clearly ratings and its shows the depths to which the show is willing to go to grab viewers. The result is not only diminishing the journalistic standing of ABC but to deny viewers an accurate account of the story. It is like inviting a comedian or contortionist to mock a reporter as he tries to explain a case.
The pathetic element to the show was not Grace who has long been dismissed by both lawyers and journalists. The pathetic element was Good Morning America striving to appeal to viewers who want to watch something akin to the WWF in legal coverage. Grace certainly has her fan base but so does Ted Nugent and Marilyn Manson. GMA appears intent on giving a murder trial the same level of serious reflection as one of its cooking segments. Indeed, the cooking segments are increasing looking like the more substantive elements to the show: they involve accurate, fact-based presentations of the subject. Few cooking guests are seen screaming “porn, porn” over the rising pop tarts. When it comes to an alleged murder however GMA brings in a media menagerie. What is truly remarkable is that the anchors actually laugh at Grace with a type of “Oh Gilligan, there you go again” response. The anchor notes that they would much prefer to “go to the weather” — as a backhand to the level of discourse. This was their chosen guest but they treat Grace as if she just walked off the street with a placard reading “The World is Coming to An End and Pistorius Watches Porn.”
In reality, GMA wants to pretend that it is above Grace’s type of graffiti commentary while shamelessly trying to appear her dubious fan base:
They keep her on TV because she is an authoritarian bigot and a sadist to boot and the country loves them thar bigots and mean sons/daughters of b—–s/b——-s. The fact that she is also female is a plus. They can support her brand of news, legal analysis and at the same time hold her up to ridicule. Re the video: Makes you proud to be ‘murican.
Some wonder if Nick is eating all his Coco Puff or he went to a Special K school? We as a community would have suggested he be enrolled into the Gifted and Talented program.
journalistic standing, ABC (at least any portion of GMA), is oxymoronic.
Having read the previous comments, I have observed the 1) regardless of your political affilitation, you do not like/respect Nancy Grace 2) There may be a slight difference of opinion on Marilyn Manson 3) Given Nancy Grace’s current blovating, one cannot but wonder how many innocent people she convicted.
Actually Marilyn Manson is a very intelligent and thoughtful person. He would provide much more valuable commentary than Nancy grace.
Grace decries Internet porn yet she appears on TV spots pimping her show wearing a handcuff necklace, something you’d expect to see on an S&M practitioner. She’s a complete joke.
ddickerson, I agree, don’t be hatin’ on Marilyn Manson. He and Johnny Depp are buddies. Nancy Grace cause the hair on my back[and there’s a lot, unfortunately] to stand up straight.
A PC point. The poor, obese, conservative, white woman on this video is fair game. All here are free to ridicule her because of her non protected status. But, if she were a member of the protected classes in our PC culture, the laughing and ridiculing of her would be unacceptable. There should be NO PROTECTED classes in our free speech society. However, I will not ridicule this woman and I will not challenge anyone choosing to do so.
She brings the choke reflex out of me. Marilyn Manson is at least well thought out and speaks intelligently! I would much rather hear him than Nancy!
These days the news department is a profit-center for almost all networks. The whole point of commentators like Nancy Grace is that they are outrageous and controversial, and therefore attract attention and viewers. Legal commentators like Jan Crawford are the exception these days, not the rule.
The speed at which news reaches the public (except in North Korea) is almost instantaneous — our phone beeps at us as soon as something happens. So timed broadcasts are left to report the olds, not the news. To get viewers, newsrooms have to spin the coverage to make it enjoyable and/or interesting. That what Nancy Grace is there to do.
As blunt as this may sound, Walter Cronkite is dead.
Simms, thanks for the link. One of the many interesting things there this caught my eye: “With every case that I prosecuted,” she told Tim Russert in June 2005, “every bad person I put away, it healed me. And looking back on it, I thought I was trying to help them, but I was really helping me.”
She should perhaps go back to prosecuting because she is FAR from healed.
Darren,
Thank goodness that David was born into a society that has modern dentistry…. I bet it’s because she doesn’t want teeth is because she doesn’t have them…..
I wonder if David would have gotten along with Thomas Jefferson…. George Washington….. James Maddison….. How about Ben Franklin …… I wonder if any of these folks had tooth issues…… Wooden dentures….?
AY, that’s an interesting point. George Washington had teeth problems, but look at how many people listened to him.
This woman brings up an interesting paradox.
If being toothless means no one will listen to them, how can she, as a toothless person, convey that fact to others? In other words how do we know the fact that a toothless person will not be listened to if we do not hear them?
I too loved the video! It feels good to laugh sometimes. Nice advice too. Nobody will listen to you when your toothless. Everyone knows that. LOL.
I watched the video, too. What serious journalist/reporter would want to be in the same company as Bill O’reilly? I think the toothless women is perfect
The jerry springer show redeaux…..
None of the GMA on air people seemed to be too happy about having her on. Even the weather girl got in a little dig.
When I watched the video of the woman above in the red dress, at 0:30 it was the best laugh I had in a while.
Nancy Grace certainly made herself to be the fool on Good Morning America. I’ll take Charlie Rose’s show over any of these circus acts.
The backstory she spouts has some holes in it:
http://observer.com/2006/03/did-nancy-grace-tv-crimebuster-muddy-her-myth/
Nancy Grace is nothing but, a frigging joke. Why they keep this illiterate person on television is a mystery to me.
Nancy Grace has been a disgrace to the legal profession for years. Why she remains on television is a testament to how low television and so call TV news has fallen. She is a disgrace.