Duckett family Essay

The current trend of journalism organizations to hire screaming journalists like Nancy adorn and others is a disservice to the Fourth acres and threatens the very nonion of a free press. gracility and others of her ilk are not makeupers seeking the newsworthiness for its value to the prevalent public nor are they attempting to inform. These confrontational entertainers are more(prenominal) interested in high ratings and controversary than in the news. Furthermore, their lack of general adult male compassion is endangering the entire profession.Never is this more clear than in the baptistery of the family of Melinda Duckett vs. CNN and Nancy aggrandize. In September, 2006, Melinda Ducketts two-year-old tidings was reported absentminded and Duckett concord to appeared on forgivenesss scan in an effort to promote the manhunt for her missing babe. approval was belligerent and in the charwomans face, screaming at her be stool she would not discuss her where rounds when th e child disappeared and accusing the woman of having something to do with her childs disappearance. ( smoke Gun, 2006). Ducketts son has still not been found, exactly a day after the converse with Grace, the woman shot and killed herself with a shotgun.In the days following Ducketts death, Grace not only aired the original interview berating the distraught woman, precisely she went on the nightly news herself, defending her interviewing techniques. Former prosecutor turned talk show host Nancy Grace is unapologetic about her aggressive approach to a mother who committed suicide after an interview about the womans missing son, ABC News reported (Nancy Grace declares guilty conscience trip). Grace showed no benignant compassion for the mother in the interview or in the days after her death.Drawing on her record as a criminal prosecutor, Grace attacked in a fashion more appropriate for a costroom than a newsroom. That is not to say that reporters should not ask tough questi ons, but they should not browbeat an interviewee and communicate over them as is reported Grace did. Reporters have a debt instrument to seek out the news not make it. In her attacks on Melinda Duckett, Nancy Grace went beyond the level and stepped back into her prosecutorial role, attempting to c every(prenominal) back the criminal. How is that ch everyenge doing anything but making a person in a desperate smudge feeling thus far more desperate? said Hub Brown, a prof at Syracuse Universitys Newhouse School of Communications. (ABC News) Grace defended her unrelenting skeptical as a serach for fairness and said police later agreed with her that Melinda Duckett is a suspect in her sons disappearance. What police really said was that in a child disappearance, the parents are always the initial suspect. Almost a year later, Ducketts son has still not been found. What has happened, however, is that Grace has put all legitimate journalists in danger of having their rights revok ed payable to her drive for ratings.In November, 2006, the parents of Melinda Duckett filed a lawsuit against Grace, CNN and Ducketts estranged economize who helped arrange the Grace interview (Smoking Gun). And, in June, 2007, a Florida court govern that the case had merit and would be tried in federal court because the participants reside in multiple jurisdictions ( ruling in). By speech this kind of unwanted spectacle to the media, Grace is causing a chilling heart that will lead to fewer people wanting to cooperate with the media and could in conclusion lead to a restriction in the rights of journalists.Her lack of basic human compassion is more relevant than whether Melinda Duckett killed or abducted her own son. The role of the media is not to determine the truth, but to report that truth after it has been exhibited by others. piece some investigatory journalists might argue this point, the reality is that even investigative journalists do not draw their own conclusions a bout the news. They search for facts and report them. Nancy Grace took facts not in evidence and applied them to the Duckett case, making herself judge, venire and prosecutor of Melinda Duckett without giving Duckett the benefit of a defense attorney.Grace, however, insists her line of questioning was reasonable. In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America today, Grace said that she takes no responsibility for Ducketts suicide. If anything, I would suggest that guilt made her commit suicide, Grace told ABC News Chris Cuomo. To suggest that a 15 or 20 minute interview can cause someone to commit suicide is focusing on the wrong thing, she said. (ABC NEWS) Graces attitude in the wake of Ducketts suicide is some other black eye for the face of journalism.Her unapologetic accusations against the dead woman seemed to portend that she believes her questioning was appropriate even if it did contribute to Ducketts death. Her claim that even the police agree with me (ABC News), d oes little to redeem Grace in the look of the general public. Instead, she is seen as so concerned about her ratings that she would put them above human safety. That attitude seems to be in evidence on her webpage. Grace actually advertises for annoyance victims to call her show and become part of the fun value of the news (CNN.com) Though she places her calls for tips in the framework of helping crime victims seek justice, her show advocates her Cross Exam and her prosecutorial drive to find the answers to crime. If Ms. Grace believed that rooting out crime was her calling, she should not have left the prosecutors station for the media. Her style of journalism is an insult to those who attempt to keep the Fourth Estate free of bias and predetermined opinions. Instead, based on her experience, Grace makes judgments calls about peoples guilt as she did with Melinda Duckett and reports the news based on her interpretation of events.She had an exclusive interview with the mother o f a missing child, a child police still presume to be alive. Instead of conservatively crafter questions designed to help authorities and the general public find the missing boy, Grace decided that badgering Melinda Duckett would mean better ratings. For the sake of the industry, one can only hope that the Duckett family attorneys cannot prove that greed and not news was Graces motivation. If they prove that she sought ratings over the truth and therefore did contribute to the death of Melinda Duckett, the chilling effect on all media will be extreme.Her unreasonably harsh questioning methods place all media attempts to get to the truth in danger and violates the most basic teaching of the Fourth Estate to inform. Nancy Grace has no intention to inform the general public of anything the day she interviewed Melinda Duckett except for her own conviction that Duckett was responsible for her sons disappearance. This kind of action has no role in journalism, but belongs in editorial a nd opinion pages, not disguised as news. industrial plant CITEDABCNews. com. Nancy Grace says Guilt Likely Made Mother Commit suicide <http//abcnews. go. com/GMA/story? id=2448050&page=1 >, June 24, 2007. Nancy Grace Homepage. http//www. cnn. com/CNN/Programs/nancy. grace/, June 24, 2007. Ruling Made in Duckett-Grace Case <http//www. local6. com/news/13533994/detail. html? rss=orlpn&psp=news,>, June 24, 2007. The Smoking Gun, Nancy Grace Sued for Wrongful Death <http//www. thesmokinggun. com/archive/1121061grace1. html ,>, June 24, 2007.