• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

A tragedy occurred last Christmas Eve when Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant, mysteriously disappeared from her Modesto, California home.

On April 14 tragedy struck again when her body, along with the body of her unborn son Connor, was discovered washed up on the San Francisco Bay shore. Peterson’s story is one of human tragedy, but a different and almost equally sickening form of tragedy occurred the moment the national news media picked up the story and turned it into a sensational reality soap opera.

Laci and her suspect-husband Scott Peterson’s faces have graced the covers of countless magazines, and each night details of their continuing drama are recounted and analyzed on CNN, FOX and MSNBC ad nauseam.

The fact that the media would utilize this heinous crime and exploit a family’s grief to sell sleazy tabloid papers, slick magazines and endless “news” talk shows featuring celebrity commentators raises serious questions about the depths to which some media outlets will descend to make a buck.

But to be fair to the media, this case does appear to have a plot line and character development that would rival the best prime-time drama. The stars are a beautiful young woman, pregnant with her first child, and her handsome, but suspicious and adulterous husband. There is a rich supporting cast, from feuding extended families, to a tight-lipped police chief, to countless tearful mourners who line up at Laci Peterson’s home every day to bring flowers and keep her memory alive.

But there is a stark contrast between this case and an excellent drama, since the men and women involved are real people. A woman, who could easily have been your sister or daughter, has been murdered. A man, who could have been your high school football buddy, is on trial for murder and will face the death penalty if convicted. And an ordinary family is having its world turned upside-down.

That is why the sensational coverage that has occurred is highly inappropriate. The tabloids have continued their regular job of providing all the news that’s not fit or even appropriate to print. For example, the National Enquirer plays to the crowd just itching for sex and violence, splashing headlines like “The affair that led to Laci’s murder” and “Secret witness saw Scott with Laci’s body” across their pages, coupling them with blurred pictures of coroners carrying a body bag.

Star Magazine targeted its coverage to a more sensitive group of gossip mongers, featuring stories like “Laci Peterson’s wedding,” promising exclusive pictures of the events. The opening paragraph begins, “Laci Peterson’s married life began with a fairy tale wedding and ended with her cheating husband Scott’s arrest for her brutal murder and that of their unborn son, Connor.”

But while this type of coverage is hardly acceptable or journalistically responsible, it’s to be expected from shady tabloids like Star and the National Enquirer.

What is striking is the type of coverage that much more reputable sources of news have devoted to this story. Newsweek has fallen in line with articles like “The Tale of the Peterson Tapes,” which presents details of Scott Peterson’s affair, speculates on the methods used to dispose of Laci’s body, and gossips about Scott’s potential for romance behind bars, passing it all off as legitimate news.

All major U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, the L.A. Times and The Boston Globe, have devoted numerous articles to Laci Peterson coverage. Geraldo Rivera flew back from reporting the war in Iraq to cover Scott Peterson’s arrest on his weekend news show on Fox News.

The mainstream national media is obsessed by this tragedy. Why? Because it sells papers, lines up views and causes magazines to fly off the stands. This transformation of news into macabre entertainment is shameful at best.

I’m from Modesto, California. I grew up a half mile from the Petersons’ home and walked past it every day on my way to junior high track practices. I attended Thomas Downey High School – the school Laci Peterson graduated from a few years before I got there. Her memorial service was held in the church I often attend. To me and to countless others this story is much more than an entertaining drama sandwiched between “Friends” and “ER.”

A tragedy occurred with the death of Laci Peterson and her son Connor, and all we can do is mourn for her and her family. Let’s just hope that the media have the dignity to end the tragedy of exploitation that they perpetrate with every sensationalized headline they write and story they publish. Only then will Peterson and Connor and all those who have been wounded by what has happened rest in peace.