O.J. Simpson and Senator Larry Craig Help Lay Out the Three Rules of Media Circuses
O.J. “You think you can steal my s---?” Simpson. Larry “Wide-stance” Craig. Lindsay “Cocaine” Lohan. Britney “I can’t lip-synch or dance” Spears. Paris “DUI” Hilton.
What do all of these people have in common? They’ve all had the dubious distinction of being the star attraction in a media circus during the past couple of months.
What exactly is a media circus? It’s when the cable news networks turn into “Entertainment Tonight,” interrupting their coverage constantly to feature “breaking news” updates on stories that aren’t really news in the least.
Reflecting on these media sensations over the past couple of months, I’ve come up with the three cardinal rules of media circuses:
1. A media circus must involve someone who is famous, but not important.
O.J. is famous for being a football star, a movie star and for starring in the “Trial of the Century,” where he was acquitted for murder, even though he was later found civilly responsible for the deaths and ordered to pay more than $33 million.
But O.J. is not really an important person. He travels from memorabilia show to memorabilia show, trying to make money to pay off his civil liability, signing his name to anything.
Simpson would have been out of the spotlight completely if it hadn’t been for his recent ill-conceived attempts at releasing his book, If I Did It, in which he wrote about how he would have killed Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown, if, you know, he had done it.
And Sen. Larry Craig, who pleaded guilty after being busted for soliciting sex in an airport restroom in August, is just an obscure senator from a small state.
He never really had a national profile, just a reputation in the Beltway for being a strict conservative who was a strong supporter of family values.
As for Paris/Lindsay/Britney, we’ll just agree that they’re not important. Not even close. Let’s just move on.
2. The famous person has done something incredibly stupid and, in an effort to uncover their motivations, we learn more about their lives than we ever wanted to know.
Craig denied the allegations that he was soliciting, but then, nearly two months later, he pleaded guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct! How could Craig have thought that pleading guilty to a crime he claimed he didn’t commit would ease his problems?
During Cirque du Craig, viewers heard the tape of his interview with police again and again, both on the news and as joke fodder for late-night television. America learned that tapping your foot is a way to request sex in a bathroom, and that Craig has what he himself called “a wide stance.” This is way more than I wanted to know.
Networks seem convinced that people are looking for the “why” of these scandals. As such, they give us interviews with Simpson’s golfing buddies, his attorneys from the murder trial, his current attorneys, the victims of the robbery — anyone with inside information on the person or their crime.
And media circuses are always looking towards the future. Even if a trial or sentencing is scheduled months later, the talking heads see fit to bring on scores of legal analysts. Forget justice for the “Jena 6,” we want to know whether or not O.J.’s going to be able to get a fair trial.
It’s the constant balancing act between all these different aspects of the story that turns an ordinary event into a full-fledged, three-ring media circus.
3. Other newsworthy events are going on during a media circus, but the “news” networks ignore them to provide non-stop, team coverage of the circus.
Media circuses are created for the viewer, not for their news value.
During the Simpson saga last week, Hillary Clinton, who very well could be the next president of the Untied States, released her health care plan. It received almost no attention, unable to escape the shadow of the O.J. saga.
Unfortunately, the production of media circuses is still a thriving business. Ratings are good, and chances are within the next month, you’ll see a completely new one setting up tents on a television screen near you.
Benjamin Van der Horst is a College junior from Cincinnati. He is executive director of the nonpartisan political organization CSAmerica and the managing editor of the Emory Political Review.
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