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American Morning
Year in Review: Most Overplayed Stories of 2002
Aired December 24, 2002 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's the time of oftentimes we take a look back at some of the most important stories of the year and upon reflection we are led to a variety of angles. And being the contrarian, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, a few thoughts today on the over covered and the most covered stories of the year.
Good morning, happy holidays.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Hi. I'm humbled.
HEMMER: Listen, I want to get into this thing right now. What do you want to start with, the over covered news?
GREENFIELD: Yes, well, here's what we're not going to do. We're not going to have enough of the obvious examples: the wedding of Liza Minelli and David Gest, the TV reality show of David and Liza, the cancellation of the TV show of David and Liza.
Or the Nicole Smith entity or whatever Michael Jackson is doing.
And I tell you what, I have come to the conclusion that these people, in fact, do not even exist. They are fictions created by a super, super government-corporate media conspiracy, composed to make us feel better about ourselves. You know, we may be screwed up but not that way.
Articles the media start to talk and write about that doesn't require thinking.
Now there's another kind of story like this that I think belongs on our list, and that is some of these celebrities on trial cases. Winona Ryder shoplifting case, for instance. That was a critical, you know, American jurisprudential matter.
And even, I have to say, Robert Blake's murder trial, because while yes, murder is a serious crime, you know we're hitting bottom and we're defining celebrity differently when it's someone whose TV show was canceled 20 years ago.
HEMMER: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
GREENFIELD: ... not if you're no longer in crime.
HEMMER: Very true.
What stories are you talking about, then? GREENFIELD: Well, I'm thinking about, like, a real story, like the D.C. area sniper story. I mean, clearly that deserved a lot of coverage, and you could argue that some of the media coverage may even have helped capture the suspects with the license plate information.
But the kind of nonsense, and I'm using that politely here, that was spread around the media by the so-called experts was absolutely indefensible. He's got to be white, he's got to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE), he's a middle-aged married man. It's got to be al Qaeda. It's a white van.
Just about every example was flat out wrong and it filled the air because the media judged that anything was better than silence. Well, it turns out no.
And here's another example that we should question: Martha Stewart. Now, yes, she's a very well known woman, maybe a celebrity, possibly caught up in a story of corporate wrongdoing. And quite clearly, she obviously rubs a lot of people the wrong way. She's too perfect or too rich. Maybe she's not the nicest boss in the world.
But her alleged wrongdoing would be literally a fraction of a fraction of one percent of what happened in the Enron/Global Crossing/WorldCom universe. And the fact is, we still don't know that she did anything wrong. But every cartoonist and late night comedian did the same joke: how will Martha redecorate her jail cell? Ho, ho, ho.
Overkill, big time.
HEMMER: You know, on the snipers, though, it was my impression working down in Rockville that people were hungry for news.
GREENFIELD: For news.
HEMMER: And that's what led a lot of people into this area of speculation. I don't think they did it from the malicious standpoint.
GREENFIELD: No, it wasn't...
HEMMER: You know, "I could be wrong, or I'm not going to" -- I think they were just trying to figure it out. Well, you know that the white van came and went every day of every hour and it never turned out to be true. I mean, look...
GREENFIELD: People also went on TV because people like to be on TV and you ask them, well, do you know anything? They say, well, when did that become a standard?
HEMMER: So true.
What about the stories that probably have less impact than maybe we thought at the offset?
GREENFIELD: This one surprised me, and that's the corporate crime story. I mean, it clearly had an impact on the financial news. It's one big reason why small investors, apparently, are staying away from the markets.
What surprised me, at least, was it didn't have the political impact a lot of us thought. And I think there were two reasons.
First, voters did not hold Republicans responsible for those misdeeds. I mean, there were enough perp walks with accused big shots to make it at least look as if the government were cracking down. And also, it turns out, both Republicans and Democrats, big surprise, collected millions of dollars from the same corporate piggies.
I also think, as it turned out, as we saw in the wake of national security issues were more important in the minds of voters. Which is another reason, Paula, why I didn't predict in the last election.
ZAHN: I always ask you to predict. I'm going to keep on trying to get you one of these days.
HEMMER: I don't think he's budging.
GREENFIELD: No.
And there's also one more example. This is hold over from 2001. Earlier this year, the remains of Chandra Levy were found, and police are increasingly convinced that the killing was the work of a serial predator.
And it raises this intriguing question: What about all the experts who deftly hinted or flat out said that Congressman Gary Condit was somehow involved? Not that he was a sleazy person or a serial adulterer, but that he conspired to murder Chandra.
One of the over seen stories this past year, and we'll take a look at next year, is whether any of these crime experts are coming on TV to apologize for accusations that, at least as far as we know so far, have proven completely baseless.
HEMMER: Don't hold your breath. I don't think we'll see that.
GREENFIELD: You've got it.
HEMMER: Have a good holiday, all right?
GREENFIELD: You, too.
HEMMER: And we'll see you in the new year, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: Could be.
HEMMER: Could be. You're not going to make any predictions on that?
GREENFIELD: No predictions, you've got it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 24, 2002 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's the time of oftentimes we take a look back at some of the most important stories of the year and upon reflection we are led to a variety of angles. And being the contrarian, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, a few thoughts today on the over covered and the most covered stories of the year.
Good morning, happy holidays.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Hi. I'm humbled.
HEMMER: Listen, I want to get into this thing right now. What do you want to start with, the over covered news?
GREENFIELD: Yes, well, here's what we're not going to do. We're not going to have enough of the obvious examples: the wedding of Liza Minelli and David Gest, the TV reality show of David and Liza, the cancellation of the TV show of David and Liza.
Or the Nicole Smith entity or whatever Michael Jackson is doing.
And I tell you what, I have come to the conclusion that these people, in fact, do not even exist. They are fictions created by a super, super government-corporate media conspiracy, composed to make us feel better about ourselves. You know, we may be screwed up but not that way.
Articles the media start to talk and write about that doesn't require thinking.
Now there's another kind of story like this that I think belongs on our list, and that is some of these celebrities on trial cases. Winona Ryder shoplifting case, for instance. That was a critical, you know, American jurisprudential matter.
And even, I have to say, Robert Blake's murder trial, because while yes, murder is a serious crime, you know we're hitting bottom and we're defining celebrity differently when it's someone whose TV show was canceled 20 years ago.
HEMMER: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
GREENFIELD: ... not if you're no longer in crime.
HEMMER: Very true.
What stories are you talking about, then? GREENFIELD: Well, I'm thinking about, like, a real story, like the D.C. area sniper story. I mean, clearly that deserved a lot of coverage, and you could argue that some of the media coverage may even have helped capture the suspects with the license plate information.
But the kind of nonsense, and I'm using that politely here, that was spread around the media by the so-called experts was absolutely indefensible. He's got to be white, he's got to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE), he's a middle-aged married man. It's got to be al Qaeda. It's a white van.
Just about every example was flat out wrong and it filled the air because the media judged that anything was better than silence. Well, it turns out no.
And here's another example that we should question: Martha Stewart. Now, yes, she's a very well known woman, maybe a celebrity, possibly caught up in a story of corporate wrongdoing. And quite clearly, she obviously rubs a lot of people the wrong way. She's too perfect or too rich. Maybe she's not the nicest boss in the world.
But her alleged wrongdoing would be literally a fraction of a fraction of one percent of what happened in the Enron/Global Crossing/WorldCom universe. And the fact is, we still don't know that she did anything wrong. But every cartoonist and late night comedian did the same joke: how will Martha redecorate her jail cell? Ho, ho, ho.
Overkill, big time.
HEMMER: You know, on the snipers, though, it was my impression working down in Rockville that people were hungry for news.
GREENFIELD: For news.
HEMMER: And that's what led a lot of people into this area of speculation. I don't think they did it from the malicious standpoint.
GREENFIELD: No, it wasn't...
HEMMER: You know, "I could be wrong, or I'm not going to" -- I think they were just trying to figure it out. Well, you know that the white van came and went every day of every hour and it never turned out to be true. I mean, look...
GREENFIELD: People also went on TV because people like to be on TV and you ask them, well, do you know anything? They say, well, when did that become a standard?
HEMMER: So true.
What about the stories that probably have less impact than maybe we thought at the offset?
GREENFIELD: This one surprised me, and that's the corporate crime story. I mean, it clearly had an impact on the financial news. It's one big reason why small investors, apparently, are staying away from the markets.
What surprised me, at least, was it didn't have the political impact a lot of us thought. And I think there were two reasons.
First, voters did not hold Republicans responsible for those misdeeds. I mean, there were enough perp walks with accused big shots to make it at least look as if the government were cracking down. And also, it turns out, both Republicans and Democrats, big surprise, collected millions of dollars from the same corporate piggies.
I also think, as it turned out, as we saw in the wake of national security issues were more important in the minds of voters. Which is another reason, Paula, why I didn't predict in the last election.
ZAHN: I always ask you to predict. I'm going to keep on trying to get you one of these days.
HEMMER: I don't think he's budging.
GREENFIELD: No.
And there's also one more example. This is hold over from 2001. Earlier this year, the remains of Chandra Levy were found, and police are increasingly convinced that the killing was the work of a serial predator.
And it raises this intriguing question: What about all the experts who deftly hinted or flat out said that Congressman Gary Condit was somehow involved? Not that he was a sleazy person or a serial adulterer, but that he conspired to murder Chandra.
One of the over seen stories this past year, and we'll take a look at next year, is whether any of these crime experts are coming on TV to apologize for accusations that, at least as far as we know so far, have proven completely baseless.
HEMMER: Don't hold your breath. I don't think we'll see that.
GREENFIELD: You've got it.
HEMMER: Have a good holiday, all right?
GREENFIELD: You, too.
HEMMER: And we'll see you in the new year, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: Could be.
HEMMER: Could be. You're not going to make any predictions on that?
GREENFIELD: No predictions, you've got it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
