Led by Nancy Grace, the entire cable landscape -- and now the broadcast news networks -- seem to have gotten drunk on the Casey Anthony trial.
A month ago, most Americans would have said: Casey who?
Yet when the jury reached its verdict Tuesday, Julie Chen cried on national television over the acquittal while networks CBS and ABC speed-raced to air hour-long nightly specials over the case.
“I’m amazed that it got so much attention that it’s been almost nonstop, especially on Headline News, but also on Fox and MSNBC and elsewhere,” said Al Tompkins, senior faculty member for the Poynter Institute’s broadcasting and online group. “This is not like a lot of other trials that have involved celebs or people that were famous, or somehow very high profile prior to the incident.
This was just a person in a murder case like many, many, many other murders in the U.S.
"Why does this case get such coverage?”
Answer: Ratings, ratings, ratings.
Also read: Casey Anthony Verdict Leaves Julie Chen in Tears
Grace’s single-minded pursuit of the "truth" about infant Caylee Anthony's death put CNN’s Headline News in second place during June, the 29-year-old channel's best ratings month ever. And it also helped the network challenge Fox News in the coveted 25-54 demo during primetime.
Of course, the bigger cable news outlets noticed HLN's ratings success. As the numbers looked better and better for HLN, MSNBC, FNC and even CNN began devoting more and more of their air time to the trial.
By the time Tuesday’s verdict was announced, it wasn't just cable news channels covering the trial, but almost every major media outlet.
There are myriad explanations why this trial became such a media circus.
Also see: Casey Anthony Verdict Nearly Causes Nancy Grace's Head to Explode (Video)
For one, there is the usually slow summer news cycle -- with the Anthony Weiner scandal winding down in mid-June, the Casey Anthony Trial was there to fill the void.
“You could make the argument this is the doldrums of summer -- nothing else of any real importance is happening,” Tompkins said. “I always say the greatest political scandals of the last 30 years usually happen in August.”
There is also Florida’s policy of allowing cameras in the courtroom. In states that do not permit that, the level of access and coverage could not have been as great.
Above all, there is the intrigue.
“They blow up like this from time to time,” said Dick Wald, professor of journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a former ABC News president. "Pretty blond girl dies somewhere in a resort island in the Caribbean, and the whole world gets fascinated. You have to be blonde and pretty and there have to be other interesting aspects.
