EnMasse

No Yards · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:28 am Post subject: Amanda Knox found guilty

http://www.canada.com/news/student+Amanda+Knox+convicted+Italy+murd...

Now, I have no opinion one way or the other on the guilt or innocence of this girl, but I do have an opinion of how the US media is playing the story.

They are condemning the whole Italian justice system as being unfair and not capable of providing a fair trail (maybe they'd be happier if the Italians shipped her off to a secret prison in Malta and held her without a trial?)

They even had the gall to condemn the Italian media for crowding around the family and yelling questions at them as they left the court after the verdict (yeah, the fucking USA media are criticizing the Italian media for being too "paparazzish" )

At least, unlike what would happen in the USA, there will be an automatic appeal process, and it is very likely that even if the appeal fails there will be a reduction in the sentence ... and of course, this girl will eventually get out of prison to resume her life, unlike the USA where she would stand a decent chance of being put to death instead of just a "life" (29 years I believe in Italy, minus the appeal reduction, minus good behavious, etc.)
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I follow, but more importantly, respect the Golden Rule. I fully and completely respect your right to be 'done on to' as you would 'do on to' others.

voice of the damned · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:18 pm Post subject:

Could you cite some specific examples of this drumbeating in the American media? I'm not neccessarily doubting you, it's just that I haven't really gotten the impression that this story is all THAT high-profile down there, or that a lot of people really care about it either way.

voice of the damned · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:21 pm Post subject:

sandy47 · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:50 pm Post subject:

voice of the damned · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:19 pm Post subject:

No Yards · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:53 pm Post subject:

CNN Anderson Cooper 360 had a similar themed show last night discussing the verdict .... over the last year I've seen several instances where the news / opinion shows have discussed this issue, and in almost every one of them the theme of the story was also how backwards and unfair the legal system of Italy was (and not once have I ever seen a single commentator make a single comparison to the "legal" system of the USA and the atrocities committed within their own "legal" system.

Keep an eye out the next several days for interviews with the Knox family ... I've seen probably four of them myself since the verdict late yesterday.

Now, there's nothing wrong with the family believing her innocence, and wanting to go to the media to tell their story, that's normal, but for the media to give a convicted murder's family that platform is quite unusual .. I can't think of another case where the media went this far in accommodating a convicted murder's side of the story ... usually they go with the victims family ... I'm sure there have been other cases, but only cases where the media has decided to take sides, which in this case is what they seem to have decided to do as well.

P.S. I could be wrong, but I believe automatic appeals are only for death sentences in the USA ... had Amanda received a life sentence in the USA she would been able to apply for an appeal, but not necessarily given one.
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I follow, but more importantly, respect the Golden Rule. I fully and completely respect your right to be 'done on to' as you would 'do on to' others.

anne cameron · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:04 pm Post subject:

Wasn't there an enormous media foo foo rah over whether or not a British nanny had been responsible/culpable in the death of a toddler?

I'm fuzzy on it but it seems to me the nanny was widely presented as being guilty from the get-go, even before the trial.

And my failing memory suggests that, in the end, the nanny was released and returned to Britain...

but the coverage was a half step away from a lynch mob.

voice of the damned · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 5:05 pm Post subject:

Hephaestion · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject:

Well, here's another case for the US media to go nuts over:

Four 4 US teens held for attempted murder in Japan

No Yards · Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:54 pm Post subject:

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

As vaguely interesting as this trial and verdict were, I was more interested in the guilty verdict for Nicola Puddicombe, who was accused of murdering her boyfriend along with her lover, Ashleigh Pechaluk. What makes that one fascinating is that while it seems to be accepted fact that the two of them discussed and planned the killing, and while one might think that two people in the grip of a bit of a folie a deux would both participate in some way, Pechaluk was acquitted while Puddicombe got 25 years.

Let's just imagine that they both planned and participated in some degree. How bad would it burn to be looking at the next quarter century in the pokey while your accomplice walks? Yowtch.
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