Thursday, June 18, 2009

Now CNN Gets It All Wrong - What Will They Make of THIS In Italy?

Posted by Peter Quennell

Part one

Part two

We might given time (a lot of time!) separately list each wrong claim with a correction underneath. Our readers sure could assist us here, by creating their own lists in the Comments.

Added: These lists in the Comments below are really quite amazing. There is a great deal to be learned about the case and the contexts from taking the time to read through them.

We know for a fact (because they kindly told us) that some of the commenters are in Italy and that several are themselves Italian. And at least one is in Perugia - this site is accessed quite a few times a day from Perugia, and so the muddled CNN hatefest is already being seen there.

We wait to see if La Nazione or one of the other fine Italian newspapers takes exception to the CNN broadcast (which is seen by millions) in the way they did to the Tiimothy Egan report in the New York Times (which was read by, at most, a few thousands).

This Jane Velez-Mitchell hatefest does not originate in New York by the way! These YouTubes would and will be highly offensive to all New Yorkers, as well as to all Italian—Americans, and many, many Americans across the country.

As with all cultures, there is a fringe, and somehow CNN USA sees its new role in the US as pandering to this fringe. But they seem to take care that such red-necked radicalism does not spill over into the global broadcasts.

Well, welcome to YouTube, CNN.

Comments

I cannot believe CNN has nothing better to offer than this! They start saying she is just a “normal student”... to admit later on she had a vibrator. I hope this is not average normality amongst students!

Then she had to talk italian because she was so frutrated by the translator who was so bad! How dare they! “Mamma mia”... well, she really is on her Broadway show, isn’t she?

The questioning of Amanda, the one where she was beaten and scared to death… YES, it was taped, and CNN should know basic answers before making such an offending broadcast! And the vampire outfit… and they dare to criticize Italy when they cannot even do a little research!

Well, I recall one day they were showing a map of Europe, indicating with an arrow a Country ... which was the wrong one. No wonder!

Shamefull work…

Posted by Patou on 06/18/09 at 01:11 AM | #

Both CNN and the New York Times are known for (i) their left wing or democrat-biased views, and (ii) for falling viewership or subscription. CNN I am told is at the lowest of the US popularity lists.

Media, or desperate media, is all about appealing to the lowest common denominator. Its all about humans as tools, but tools with money or attention spans that appeal to advertisers. If Amanda giggles in court and says “yucky” and “vibrator” and lists her lovers in her diary, and writes to two guys at the same time as she is giving testimony, .... youre looking at “Life on Mars” - “the freakiest show. Lawmen beating up the wrong guy (poor Meredith) .... look at those cavemen go…. ” That’s about it.

Luckily however, the consquences generally are more ephemeral than we believe.

The US however is not alone in having bad media. Italy has a lot of it and so does Britain.

Having mentioned bad (BAD) tabloids in the UK, of which there are many, does that mean however that the legal systems in those countries dont work? Could you say that of Britain. Id say, probably not. If she was being tried in Britain and held on DNA evidence, what would the USA say about Britain? Same thing probably.

Also, one for the people who in the end speak for themselves and make up their own minds: The Media is not the mouth of the people; example -  days after Barrack Obama did his recent and strategically timed Tour Of Duty through Europe (a week or so ago), Europe went to vote, and despite Obamas supposedly charming presence, and the medias charmed treatment of him, the European people voted to the Right, and even the Radical Right obtained seats historical %s of votes and even seats in the EU for the first time in history.

CNN and the New York Times but really be on the back foot about Europe! Amanda makes no secret she is a Democrat and in Europe we all know how furious the fight in the US is between those two parties.

What does that tell you? That the media attempts to manipulate and the people dont always buy it.

Point of my rave: hopefully the evidence will over-ride all the ad sales and vote-getting this ridiculous circus is generating and the obviously guilty will remain in jail - admission or not.

Posted by LIBBY on 06/18/09 at 01:39 AM | #

Nice screen shot - it captures the lurid, tabloid tone and standards of this program. Making a list of the factual errors will take some time. There were so many. Big and small. Nancy Grace comes across as downright poised and calm by comparison.

Posted by Skeptical Bystander on 06/18/09 at 03:21 AM | #

Pathetic coverage. OK, I’ll take a stab at that and test my knowledge of the case.

Wrong Claims

1 “nicknamed Foxy Knoxy by the tabloids”
  RATHER nickname was from soccer team, not tabloids

2 Frustrated by translator
  RATHER seems to be frustrated by translation timing, not translator per se

3 Terrifying picture of 14 hours of being interrogated
  RATHER it was not 14 hours, much shorter

4 Key interrogation was day after murder of her roommate
  RATHER key interrogation was several days after murder

5 Supreme Court threw out confession b/c of police treatment of her
      RATHER confession thrown out because she did not have an attorney then (later the Seattle correspondent states this correctly)

6 Witnesses did see her near the crime scene
  RATHER the closest witnesses saw her was the piazza and street

7 She did not have an attorney during interrogation
  RATHER she was without an attorney only during the first phase when she was a witness rather than a suspect

8 If there was a video, we would have seen it by now
  RATHER, there does appear to be a video – can’t wait to see it

9 Translator was bad so she switches to Italian
  RATHER she seemed to switch because of the time delay not the quality of the translation

10 Kangaroo Court because of summer break and scheduling
  RATHER many governmental institutions even in the US take a summer break. The judges are unlikely to be drinking pina colatas in any case but rather a good Amarone!

11 DNA – just a fingerprint that “lasts forever” and knife was found in the house and kitchen where she lives where her DNA would be expected.
  RATHER the DNA was from a knife found in RS’s apartment and not her own.  DNA does not last forever. No mention of the double DNA and its significance.

12 Not conducted scientifically
  RATHER investigation was seemingly conducted pretty well.

13 3-minute answers translated to 4 seconds (in reference to another European trial)
  RATHER the translator here seemed to be doing a full translation

14 Weekend trial sessions cast doubt on process
  RATHER Italy has a different schedule – school is held on Saturdays too.

15 8 ‘tainted judges’ not jury of peers
  RATHER no evidence of judges being “tainted”

16 Interrogated with no video tape with “no prior knowledge of Italian”
  RATHER there does seem to be a video tape and she had been studying Italian for some time

17 Now dead roommate dressed as a vampire when killed
  RATHER Meredith was in costume the previous day for Halloween

18 College kids into blood sucking now
      RATHER this is a completely bizarre comment, perhaps a reference to Twilight series?

19 Women do not slit throats and commit violent acts
  RATHER there are cases of this, especially in group acts as described elsewhere

Posted by ragazza americana on 06/18/09 at 03:56 AM | #

Let’s not forget that Knox’s PR strategy, in the absence of any evidence which would hint at innocence,is to morph the trial into an OJ like circus to confuse and distract viewers who haven’t the time or interest to learn the evidence for themselves. It remains an effort to force a political intervention by sufficiently slandering Italians,their officials, and institutions. I turned off CNN years ago when it seemed like a 24/7 infomercial with oddball personalities. It’s about ratings and entertainment, not about information. The clip is like watching the Jerry Springer Show. My interrogators needn’t waterboard me, just make me watch an hour of CNN. There are many book and movie deals in the works but their payoffs depend on an acquittal. Too bad Meredith couldn’t call in to tell the chattering loons what she was wearing. What’s so maddening is how a handful of dumbass American’s can tarnish all Americans by abusing the airwaves with such farcical misinformation. One loon actually referred to the jurors and judges as eight tainted judges, without knowing anything about them.

Seattleite

Posted by jennifer on 06/18/09 at 04:24 AM | #

There are really no words to describe how upsetting that was to watch. 

Did she have to yell like that?!  An innocent, beautiful, bright girl was murdered.  You aren’t reporting about a sporting event.  :(

Posted by Karen on 06/18/09 at 04:36 AM | #

Disgusting, tabloidesque report CNN, Headline News and Jane Velez Mitchell!

This is an embarassment to the United States media and ultimately yourselves and your network.

I wonder, don’t you have people who do fact checking research before you air your program?  Or, do you prefer a “shoot from the hip” style of broadcasting based on rumors?

Jane, you’re over dramatic and you have so many facts WRONG that I really don’t have time to go into them all.  In the first couple of minutes you say that Knox was “hit on the head twice which MADE her say she was there that fateful night”.  Amanda Knox voluntarily accused Patrick Lumumba of murdering Meredith Kercher while she “covered her ears in another room”. You also say she endured a “terrifying 14 hour interrogation where she was hit”.  Sorry Jane, it was not even close to 14 hours. She was questioned from around 11:00-11:30pm to 1:45am.

Jane, you are saying that Italy has a “Loosey Goosey” type of judicial system because people are bilingual and allowed to speak in two languages?  What in the world are you talking about?  Amanda Knox was given the option to reply in whichever language she felt most comfortable with.  By the way Jane, did Amanda tell you that she was “so frustrated with her translator that she switched to speaking Italian”?  From what I saw in the courtroom, Amanda Knox was arrogant, disrespectful and outright rude to the translator!

How many times were we viewers treated to the term “kangaroo court” referring to the courtroom scheduling habits in Italy? Am I watching CNN or Cartoon Network?

Another thing Jane. The judges won’t be “deliberating while they’re on summer vacation after coming to court only on the weekends”.  If you read up on the court schedule, it is expected to resume after the summer recess; then final arguments will be presented by the prosecution and the defense. At that time the jury will deliberate the fate of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. You make it sound like the judges will be thinking about their Knox/Sollecito decisions while sipping Mai Tais on the beach in Hawaii.

Amanda did carwheels at the police station, NOT in the prison like your program stated.  A far different scenario to be turning cartwheels while waiting to be questioned about your roommate and “good friend’s” murder, than in the prison exercise yard at Capanne Prison.  The “aunt” telling you on the phone that Knox WAS NOT doing cartwheels; that she was “just doing yoga stretches” is false, again.

Finally Jane, the victim of this brutal and horrific murder is the beautiful Meredith Kercher.

Out of your 16+ minutes you devoted to Amanda Knox, don’t you think you could have devoted at least a few to Meredith?

Goodbye CNN.  Headline News?  More like Headline Nuts.

Posted by Tara on 06/18/09 at 04:47 AM | #

I forgot to add in my post above that yes, I did forge on to Part 2 of Jane’s CNN report.

Some of my references are from the second part.

Tara

Posted by Tara on 06/18/09 at 04:52 AM | #

Jane is an idiot.  I find her reports in general hard to stomache.  She gets facts wrong on most of the stories she reports.  I can’t decide if she is just fighting Nancy Grace for ratings. 

Defending Amanda Knox is like defending Casey Anthony in my opionion. 

She has no other angle.

Posted by Jumpy on 06/18/09 at 06:00 AM | #

Note to self:  If ever arrested for a criminal offense, accept the free public defender and spend money on a good PR Firm.  Now onto the tripe that CNN calls news….

Claim:  Foxy Knoxy was a tabloid nickname for Amanda Knox
Fact:  Foxy Knoxy was used by Amanda on her own Facebook page

Claim:  Amanda was upset by bad translation and switched to Italian
Fact:  If Amanda is so fluent in Italian as to testify comfortably she would know exactly what the translator was saying and would have no need to speak in English at all.
My Guess:  Amanda was entirely too nervous to speak Italian, but as she became more comfortable testifying she switched to Italian AND/OR she practiced specific portions on her testimony in Italian to have a greater impact on the jury.

Claim:  Amanda was interrogated for 14 hours by the police the day after the murder of Meredith Kercher.
Fact (1):  Amanda voluntarily gave a witness statement several days after the murder, and had not even been asked to the Police station.  She was there instead with her boyfriend.
Fact (2):  Her witness statement lasted an hour or so at the most. 
Fact (3):  Only after she became a suspect did the session last until 1:30 or so in the morning.  Even then total time was 3 or 4 hours at most.

Claim:  Police used intimation tactics and physical violence to force a confession out of Amanda.
Fact:  This is the newest story out of Amanda’s camp.  Why wait until the final trial (rather than any of the preliminary hearings) to lodge this charge?  Why hasn’t Amanda’s defense team filed a formal complaint?  Now the physical violence is being described as a slap to the back of the head.  Why did this slap to the head cause Amanda to willingly and knowingly not once but twice give oral and written statements accusing her boss, Patrick of committing the murder?  This line of though goes on and on…

Claim:  Amanda had no prior knowledge of Italian when the Police questioned her.
Fact:  Amanda was certainly not fluent in Italian but she could read, write and speak the language passably.  Note the text she sent to her boss the night before (or day of?) the murder.

Claim:  Amanda claims she wasn’t there the night of the murder.  Her “new” alibi is that she was with her boyfriend all night and that he also claims she was there.
Fact:  This is the eight such change to Amanda’s story since the murder.  Interestingly enough, Amanda’s boyfriend now claims that Amanda was not with him that night at all.  That happens to be his fifth or sixth change to his story as well.  Both Amanda and Raphaele are liars by their own admissions.

Claim:  Italian Supreme Court threw out Amanda’s confession because no attorney was present (as in, this Kangaroo court can’t do anything right type of statement). 
Fact:  This statement is totally out of context.  No attorney was present because she was a witness at the time not a suspect.  So yes, no attorney was present, and her statements can not be used against her.  HOWEVER, she offered a second written statement after the fact that supported her earlier statement and is allowed as evidence against her. 

Claim:  After five months “amazingly” Amanda “finally” gets to speak.
Fact:  As far as I know (and I am in the legal profession) no Defendant in the US gets to speak prior to the prosecution resting its case.  The best a Defendant gets would be an opening statement if he represented himself (otherwise the opening statement would be by his attorney, so the Def. wouldn’t get to speak).

Claim:  Italy’s justice system is a “Kangaroo Court”
Fact (1):  Italy’s justice system is very defendant friendly.  If the same evidence were is an American court Amanda would be doubly screwed for the consistent and admitted lying.  In America that is called Perjury.
Fact (2):  The evidence doesn’t change depending on what day of the week court is held.  Court dates have no bearing on the case.  The only “evidence” changing on a weekly basis is Amanda’s testimony.

Claim:  The Italian legal system is strange by our standards.
Fact:  Strange in the sense that the defendant can lie with impunity to the Court?  Yes that is strange.  Strange in the sense that Court is held a few days a week and on weekends?  Again, strange, but that doesn’t change the evidence.  Strange that they speak Italian?  Okay…I’ll admit it, now I’m being ridiculous, but still I don’t speak Italian so it is strange to me. 

Claim:  Anything we (Americans) have doesn’t exist there.
Fact:  This guy is just a xenophobe.  I hate to resort to ad hominem attacks, but it fits.  An Italian defendant may actually have it better in Italy then in US.  To my knowledge nothing has been presented in Italy that would have been thrown out in a US courtroom.  Talk like that is Amanda’s PR campagin in full force.

Claim:  Amanda is not being judged by a jury of her peers.  Instead she has eight tainted judges.
Fact:  I don’t actually know (embarrassingly enough) who is to determine Amanda’s fate.  I can say with absolute certainty though that being Italian does not make one “tainted” in any way.  I’m not sure how else this guy could figure that the Judge’s were “tainted.”  Again see above, he’s a xenophobe.

Claim:  The kitchen knife/murder weapon was from Amanda’s kitchen.
Fact:  The knife was from her boyfriend’s kitchen in his flat.  What was the knife doing at Amanda’s place?

Claim:  DNA is like a fingerprint, it lasts forever.
Fact (1): Fingerprints don’t last forever.  They are easily cleaned from a surface and fade rather quickly.
Fact (2): DNA doesn’t just blow forth like pollen in the wind spreading to everything in a room.  Amanda’s DNA on the knife handle is not the be all end all of this case, like the Defense team and Amanda’s PR Firm like to claim.  That is simply a classic straw man argument which is easily felled.  Luckily for us, Justice, and Meredith Kercher’s family, this case has much more supporting evidence that proves Amanda, Raphaele, and Rudy are Guilty of Murder.

Claim:  Amanda accused the “bartender”who then spent time in jail and is now suing Amanda.
Fact:  To be fair to CNN, this is actually correct.  Amanda did knowingly and deliberately accuse an innocent man of committing murder.  Patrick did spend time in jail, and he is now, rightfully, suing Amanda.

Claim:  Blanket statement that all European translators are bad at their job and are helping promote miscarriages of justice (ie, a witness can speak for 3 minutes and the translator will speak for 4 seconds).
Fact:  This guy is just full of crap.  He doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know what is being said or how it is being translated.  Most languages don’t have perfectly matching concepts, tenses, word structures, cultural meanings, shared history, etc…It is entirely possible in Chinese for example to have what a western would consider a single “character” represent an entire story, but I digress.

Claim:  Meredith was dressed as a vampire when she was murdered.
Fact:  Meredith was dressed as a vampire for Halloween, NOT when she was murdered.

Claim:  Scenario posited was that this was a vampire sex game gone wrong because youth are into blood drinking.
Fact:  WTF!?!?!  (nothing more than tabloid worthy crap)

Claim:  Amanda’s character is on trial because the DNA evidence is lacking.
Fact (1): Amanda is on trial because she, along with her two cohorts, Murdered Meredith Kercher.
Fact (2): The DNA evidence is not “lacking” and is also not the only evidence in the case.
Fact (3): There exists sufficient additional evidence which is supported by the DNA evidence, not the lease of which is Amanda’s ever changing story of what happened (we’re on version eight).
Fact (4): Amanda’s character is mainly on trial DUE TO Amanda’s PR Firm making her out to be “an innocent girl lost in a foreign country caught up in affairs out of her control”.  Amanda is not Barbie in Baghdad.  Amanda Knox is a murderer.

Claim:  Women do not commit violent crimes.  Women do not slit throats.
Fact:  Again WTF!?!?!  Who comes up with this Sh*t.  While it would be true that women are not usually profiled as serial killers, women do indeed commit violent crimes using all manner of weapons including knives and including mutilation.

I didn’t have the stomach to watch part 2 of the report so I leave that to someone else.  Please feel free to copy and edit/update anything that I may be mistaken about.  I’ve only recently started following this site after growing weary of the garbage presented in the Seattle Times. 

My condolences to the Kercher family.  I hope this can end soon with a proper verdict for Justice.

Posted by destro on 06/18/09 at 06:42 AM | #

How does that not surprise me!!?

I’m yet to see an credible TV reporting from the US.

I actually wanted to visit your country up until this case.

I think the way you have allowed this case to be reported is nothing short of disgusting.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse than the Nancy Grace piece I watched but it has.

These reporters have the audacity to come out with statements like “You feel like going over there and waving your star spangled banner”.

A country where the death penalty still exists.

Where free speech is so far out of whack that it allows people like the Westboro Baptist Church to picket the funerals of dead soldiers with signs like “Fag Troops”!!!

The most powerful country in the world that can’t look after its own citizens with a health system ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organisation.

With gun laws that are laughable if they weren’t so tragic. You should try having a look at how we do things in the UK and then you might learn something. We had the Hungerford Massacre in 1987. In 1988 a law was passed which banned the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricted the use of shotguns with a magazine capacity of more than two rounds.

We then had the Dunblane Massacre in in 1996. What followed was the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 which left only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns.

That was the last case of its kind in this country. There may be others to come but the gap between them seems to be getting longer, thus less lives lost. It’s been 13 years now and still no repeat.

I know they don’t have any relevance to this case but they are a good example of why you shouldn’t come over to Europe “waving your star spangled banner” and feel proud to be American.

We don’t see you like you see yourselves.

By the way, this isn’t aimed at all Americans, just those that really do have the arrogance to believe in that crazy statement that you’re “the greatest country in the world”. You’re not, you’re just the most powerful - there’s a big difference.

Posted by mikeyverve on 06/18/09 at 12:12 PM | #

Dear Jane and Dicks,

You have NO grace, NO charm and NO punch here.
You give Americans a bad name, you are vile and egocentric. I am not American, British nor Italian. I have been studying this case from all angles, and my judgements are based on evidence - yours on the other hand seem to be based on a pompous notion that the Italians couldn’t possibly know what they are doing. What?? Maybe if you would stop glorifying that nasty piece of work that is known as AK47 in Hollywood style rags, you would get a clearer picture. Do some research, read a little, perhaps travel and see that once you leave the ‘safety’ of America the rest of the world (bad Europe!) isn’t a place filled with savages that dont speak English and haven’t a clue on science, criminal justice and human nature.Merideth Kercher is the ‘dead roommate’ you hastily mention- you and your cronies cheapening her life and death, questioning whether she was was dressed as a vampire because ‘maybe that’s what she was into’.
Preposterous, disturbing and disappointing work there guys.

Team America! Fuck yeah!(yeah right)

Oh and PS: The ‘tainted judges’ all ‘dressed in black robes’ in this ‘loosey goosey’ court aren’t that detached from humanity, I’m pretty sure they too know/have goofy college kids that dont stop giggling.

Posted by Tammy on 06/18/09 at 12:44 PM | #

How long do you think it will take before the USA “gets” the fact that this trial is in Italy and the USA has about as much input into it as they do into Martian politics? I love lots of American people and parts of the culture; but to quote Tammy above, they need to lose this Team America mentality, esp within the media (apart from Fox News, it’s the new Sky comedy channel, you gotta laugh at their olympic standard hatemongering!). If the split on the jury is 50/50, does the FOA think this sort of press will have the judges falling for or against Amanda? They might make an example of her which, if innocent is not fair but Ak’s supporters only have themselves to blame for being so utterly offensive to a proud nation like Italy.

Posted by daisysteiner on 06/18/09 at 01:37 PM | #

Hexes, CNN!  Jane just earned herself the Tongue-Tying Curse.

It will be a refreshing change when her tongue is temporarily curled backwards upon itself and she will be unable to reveal certain information – such as her many lies. Talk about dead air space, chilling….

So thanks to yet another shoddy news story overflowing with inaccurate claims we may expect to see more versions parroted in the coming weeks – one more NY Times blunder. But it is comforting to know in spite of citizens not having been provided correct information the jury has!! 

Have heart, the judge and jury are intimately familiar with the 10,000 page evidence report - a powerful tool when combined with the testimony presented in court – a harrowing fate for Amanda and Raffaele.

In spite of this embarrassing and inaccurate reporting public opinion is at an all time high - against Amanda Knox.  Many people feel strongly Mr. Knox should be showing support for his daughter in a more humble and personal way.  Most saw Amanda as a huge fake on the witness stand.  Sure thing Mr. Knox, glad we were able to see Amanda as the “real” Amanda – and for this you’re proud??

Amanda treated the translator with zero respect appearing impatient and taking all opportunities to belittle her.  By intentially leaning away from the translator and restricting her body as if to say, “don’t touch me!”  Her Highness clearly demonstrated a “better than thou” attitude.  Combine this with her known prejudices she seemed to be saying, “I can’t BELIEVE they stuck me with you!”  A simply charming performance, Amanda.

Posted by Professor Snape on 06/18/09 at 03:44 PM | #

After I read all the comments, I had to watch it and WOW, it was really bad! I can’t believe that they are basically saying that the European system (not Italian system, no, they said European like Europe was a country) is ridiculous. I really can’t believe it! In the states, people can get convicted based only on circumstancial eyewitness testimonies or other very circumstancial evidence and they say the European judicial system is strange (because Amanda switched from English to Italian)? Huh? They should better make a show about those 130+ people who got exonerated from death row since 1976 and investigate how this could happen instead of calling other judicial systems (with much lower error rates!!!) ridiculous and strange based on a poor research on a case!

RIP Meredith!
I hope one day we will really know what happened.

Posted by Mary on 06/18/09 at 06:24 PM | #

I am utterly speechless. I could only stand to watch half of the first part of this erractic shouting match.

Completely staged, obnoxious, loud, crass, full of false information.

Hideous.

Posted by Miss Represented on 06/18/09 at 08:24 PM | #

Emotional Intelligence is defined by one’s level of self awareness and self regulation; ie, acceptance of the responsibilty for ones own actions.

Observing Amanda Knox Id have to say that she possesses very little intelligence. She is quite transparent, and the Italian Police were quite accurate in calling her a “stupid liar”.

Posted by LIBBY on 06/18/09 at 08:31 PM | #

Talking of hideous reporting in the US, I’ve just been back over at Candace Dempsey’s blog and noticed that a new poster is having his posts deleted.

He calls himself Commissario Montalbano.

He sounds like he’s from Perugia and the latest post I read from him sounded very interesting.

Nothing new in particular but he was talking about the arrival of the postal police and the call to the cabrieneri. Interesting to hear from someone on that that has a good knowledge of Perugia and the Italian police departments.

Another example of biased censorship from another news outlet. Ok, Candace is just a blogger but do the SeattlePI not realise that it really doesn’t matter. It’s still their name at the top, just as it is with the New York Times and Timothy Egan.

Posted by mikeyverve on 06/18/09 at 09:38 PM | #

I’m with Miss Represented on this one.  I could barely watch this disgustingly ignorant piece.

I can’t believe that this is coming from CNN.  It’s a very poor advertisement for the U.S and makes America look as ignorant as those people on the screen. 

I would never tar all Americans with the same feather, but when people make comments like this on air, comments which will be easily seen the world over, they are representing their country very badly.

When the guy who had conducted cases in “Europe” (....this thing about using that word as some sort of blanket term has annoyed me for years though….Europe is a big place and there are many countries with very different people)...

Ahem.

Anyway.  when he said that sometimes he wanted to sing the “Star Spangled Banner” I physically cringed..not with anger, but with embarrassment…for him, for every American he is showing up by making such a backwards comment.

I felt physically sickened by the “we’re protected by our constitution and we have our rights” part of it. 

So the rest of the world is just populated by lawless cretins?

Argh!

If somemthing like this had been on the BBC I’d stop paying my license fee.. I’m not saying they’re perfect….far from it, but I can’t remember them ever being so obviously racist.

And there’s another thing….this whole thing is borderline racist.

I want to email every one of them with a strongly worded complaint…Who’s with me!

Posted by Siri on 06/18/09 at 10:05 PM | #

Unbelievable.

All of them seem to have at least one thing in common with AK and co. They have no shame!

Posted by wayra on 06/19/09 at 02:10 AM | #

p.s. Re: my comment above, the meaning of which might get confused in translation:

They have no sense of shame. Otherwise they would all be ashamed of themselves!

The stupidity of this piece was shocking. And, yes, I agree with Siri. There is an underlying racism, rooted in privilege, throughout these ‘discussions.’ Ask black Americans about the fairness of the U.S. criminal justice system and about real police brutality.

Posted by wayra on 06/19/09 at 02:20 AM | #

The British press is frequently accused of being vicious and gratuitously intrusive. I agree that it is frequently over-zealous in its approach, particularly to minor celebrities who court the press and then whine about press intrusion later. However they largely attempt to expose the truth and fact-checking is of paramount importance. I am guessing that the sloppy, amateurish, xenophobic piece of jingoistic garbage we are all so angry about is not subject to any legal redress ie charges of slander. It was the complete absence of any respect for MK in this hysterical exchange that truly shocked. If I were Amanda Knox I would be begging them to shut up.

Posted by pensky on 06/19/09 at 07:03 AM | #

Could only manage to watch part of the first half, it was so bad.
This site and PMF are a bit of fresh air and common sense debate in a quagmire of puff.
I sincerely hope Meredith Kercher’s relations don’t see any of this reporting, and send my prayers and good wishes to them in their grief.

Posted by NearlyNeville on 06/19/09 at 10:48 AM | #

I’ve followed this case closely for months but have never posted until now, but this circus prompted my first post. After reading all the comments, I’ve just watched both clips.  I cannot believe my eyes & ears - that was an abomination and extremely difficult to sit through.  I am British and love America and Americans and have always had positive experiences of the country & the people.

However this is trashy TV at its worst and does no favours to Americans and their perception abroad and actually does Amanda Knox even more harm.  The fact that this screeching monster in fuschia and her “blankety blank” (UK ancient game show) style panel of shouting halfwits was aired on a NEWS show is stunning.

The arrogance, the ignorance, the ridicule of Italy, the lumping together of Europe & the things “they” do or don’t do, the inaccuracies, and above all the total lack of recognition and respect for Meredith are an utter disgrace.

I stayed in Leeds on Sunday night on business for the first time in months and caught a train up to Newcastle on Monday morning, passing through the station which was full of students on their way to first lectures and in the midst of my own rush it suddenly struck me that Meredith would have passed this way many many times on trips home & elsewhere. 

How I wish she’d remained another anonymous student in the crowds and that if I’d ever learned her name it would only be because she was the beautiful star of a music video. RIP lovely Meredith xx

Posted by Sally on 06/19/09 at 02:24 PM | #

And these people are so called professionals! What a disgrace. I, too am British, and I could not agree more with Sally’s comments.

Posted by lionheartprotector on 06/22/09 at 09:54 PM | #

I confirm, as the commenter above “Mickeyverve” noted, that my comments posted on Candace Dempsey’s blog on the Seattle Post Intelligencer (under my pseudonym: Commissario Montalbano), are routinely deleted within hours, if not minutes of my posting.

Any postings that will, even remotely, suggest that Amanda Knox may not be innocent, or any postings that highlight inconsistencies in the defense’s theory, or any explanations of the Italian judicial system (I’ve studied law in Italy) are systematically deleted by Candace Dempsey’s blog. Sometimes within minutes, sometime, if posted at night, by the next morning. Try to do the same if you can.

Posted by Commissario Montalbano on 07/08/09 at 12:21 AM | #

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