Monday, June 13, 2011

Accountability

The lack of accountability is a major theme of the lacrosse case and its aftermath. Whatever else could be said about rogue ex-DA Mike Nifong, the State Bar eventually held him accountable, and stripped him of his law license. That action, in turn, triggered an accountability session for the ethically challenged Linwood Wilson, who was fired from his job as DA investigator as soon as Nifong lost his position. And, with the company he founded facing a loss of accreditation, Dr. Brian Meehan eventually lost his job as well.

Compare that record to the academy and to the media. In the academy, if anything, participation in the witch-hunt is a career advancer. Several prominent members of the Group of 88 either left Duke for better jobs (Farred, Baker, Payne) or were promoted within Duke to deanships. The administration even forked over a large legal settlement to the falsely accused players in part to shield individual faculty members from legal liability.

And then there’s the media. Bob Ashley stayed on as the Herald-Sun’s editor until his retirement this past January. Likewise with the Times’ Bill Keller, who kept his position for years until recently stepping down. Duff Wilson is still at the Times, where he was promoted to cover the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. His on-line bio adds that he’s “currently a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the nonprofit group Investigative Reporters and Editors,” and has taught investigative reporting.” (The site doesn’t feature his syllabus, but based on his Duke reporting, presumably Lesson Plan One is, “Always Trust Whatever the Prosecutor Tells You.”)

But none of these figures can compare to Nancy Grace, subject of a glowing profile (coupled with a photo of Grace in a stylish black leather jacket) in Sunday’s Times. The article, by Brian Stelter, noted that Grace’s current network, HLN (the successor to Headline News), has reoriented itself (and boosted its ratings) around Grace’s guilt-presuming coverage of high-profile trials. It doesn’t mention just how wrong-headed Grace’s trial coverage has been in the past.

And the MSM wonders why younger people increasingly trust The Daily Show for hard news?


14 comments:

Gary Packwood said...

Perhaps Brian Stelter and his Sunday Times colleagues have been following this case all along and recognized a good marketing opportunity when they see one.

After all, as we all learned in the early days of the Duke lacrosse rape hoax, members of the extreme sisterhood are a fearsome bunch with combined group membership much larger than we imagined.

A whole new market opportunity for The New York Times and the HLN Network.

And as a group the 'Sisters' are indifferent to how their news is engineered.

Whatever sells newspapers and garners attention even if the news... Is Not Fit to Print.
::
GP

Anonymous said...

Is Grace a Communist?

Anonymous said...

Has Duke apologized to Presser (a veteran of 16 years at Duke) for firing him with no process and without even waiting for the DNA evidence to come back? ("it's not about the truth...") ?

Has Duke apologized to the lacrosse team (for cancelling their season) on the basis of lies?

Has Duke apologized for refusing even to look at evidence of innocence and effectively condemning its students to railroading by the Durham system?

Has Duke apologized to the falsely-accused for all the remarks, innuendo, and rush to judgment by its administration (and perhaps behind-the-scenes encouragement) which helped inflame the mob atmosphere?

Has Duke apologized to the families for what they had to endure?

We can start there...

RighteousThug said...

Anonymous @ 6/13/11 10:23 PM - Is Grace a Communist?

Unknown, but she is certainly a bitch.

Anonymous said...

Above the Law has a terrific post: a blow-by-blow commentary on the latest Nancy Grace rantfest: her hour about the Casey Anthony trial. They call it "Fear and Loathing: the Squeaquel", and they refer her Lacrosse episodes.

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/06/fear-and-loathing-the-squeakquel/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+abovethelaw+%28Above+the+Law%29

Anonymous said...

"We can start there..."

After ten years of "standing committees" and academic studies to solve the perplexing meaning of the word "regret."

Duke Prof

libertyvini said...

Regarding the Casey Anthony trial,looking at the cover of People magazine the other day, and having seen Ms. Grace's bloviating over it, I had a thought - it is in no one's interest, in this case, for it to end. Not Casey, not People magazine, and certainly not Nancy Grace.

fironzelle said...

I love Jon Stewart.

Anonymous said...

The Justice4Nifong nutcase is saying that Nifong already has a plan to get his law license back in NC in 2012.
Question for KC: What would you say are Nifong's changes of ever getting his license back, in NC or anywhere else? What factors would be in play here? What kind of case could he possibly make for reinstatement? Given that he filed for bankruptcy, how could he pretend to have the financial resources to hire an attorney to assist him?

Anonymous said...

Is Nancy Grace a puppy-raper?

f1guyus said...

Everyone who is surprised raise their hand.

Anonymous said...

KC,
Have you seen this yet:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/feds-crack-down-campus-flirting-and-sex-jokes

Anonymous said...

What's with the curious absence of Selena Roberts?

Jim in Greensboro said...

IMF Chief freed over doubts about accuser's story.
Rape case redux on a global scale?