So there I was, researching something on Google about the Casey Anthony case and I came across this wonderful quote that a certain legal commentator for WFTV (ABC’s local affiliate) made regarding my criticism of his objectivity and the objectivity of the reporter he works with.
“As your readers have seen over the past several days, one way to obfuscate the truth and shift focus from damning facts is to create a straw man upon whom to lodge false allegations. It is an unfortunate, but sometimes effective, way of creating a diversion orchestrated to cause confusion and to divert attention from the core issues.” Orlando Sentinel, November 24, 2009: Casey Anthony: WFTV’s Bill Sheaffer answers latest criticism from TV analyst.
And is it not just so ironic that the upcoming indigence hearing would ultimately reveal ABC (or as Jose Baez likes to mumble, the American Broadcasting Company) paid an accused child killer’s defense team $200,000.00 for photos and video of the child the defendant was accused of murdering.
Yet, the local ABC affiliate, WFTV, instead releases a series of “Jaw Dropping” reports that captures the public’s attention and completely divert the media focus from that same indigence hearing (i.e. The Real Story).
And to top it off, that same ABC affiliate pushed the “jaw dropping” mistress story right until the very last desperate minute by tantalizing the public with the prospect that one of those reports would be “of the other shoe dropping…” (Spoiler Alert: It never did.)
- March 12: Casey Anthony: George Anthony had affair, said Caylee’s death was ‘an accident,’ WFTV reports
- March 12: Casey Anthony: WFTV says source on George Anthony affair is ‘highly credible’ and ‘other shoe is about to drop’
- March 13: Casey Anthony: George’s alleged affair hurts Casey Anthony’s case, WFTV analyst says
- March 15: Casey Anthony: WFTV reveals more about ‘other woman’ in George Anthony’s life
- March 16: Casey Anthony: What could mistress report mean to George Anthony’s future, Casey Anthony’s case?
- March 17: Casey Anthony: Nancy Grace’s guests (WFTV-Channel 9’s Kathi Belich and WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer) don’t agree on whether George’s alleged mistress can be believed
- March 18: Casey Anthony: WKMG supplies details about sisters alleging George said Caylee’s death was an accident
And then, from none other than Tony Pipitone (whom the Baez camp seems to leak their information to first nowadays), a story comes out the day after the financial boondoggle hearing revealing the “jaw dropping” news that the Mistress’ affair can’t be substantiated by anyone (talk about the other shoe dropping).
Better yet, it was revealed that even if the affair was true, George Anthony only told her exactly what he has told everyone else from the very beginning:
“And I turned my head and he grabbed my hands, and he said, ‘It was an accident that snowballed out of control.’” However, she said she couldn’t say why George Anthony thought it was an accident. She admitted that there wasn’t any other proof of what he told her that night. WKMG: Woman In Alleged Anthony Affair Reveals Details.
We call such hypothesis on the part of lay witnesses speculation – and speculation is inadmissible in a criminal courtroom. So basically all of this River Cruz mistress hoopla (to which the the TV Guy played a willing pawn) was a bunch of baloney.
Well maybe it wasn’t, I mean as one learned legal commentator has told us:
The one way to obfuscate the truth and shift focus from damning facts is to create a straw man (George Anthony) upon whom to lodge false allegations (an affair). It is an unfortunate, but sometimes effective, way of creating a diversion orchestrated to cause confusion and to divert attention from the core issues (The Indigence Hearing where it could be revealed ABC paid an accused murderer $200K).
ROFL! And I thought Jose Baez had a conflict of interest brokering the deal in the first place (Casey, ABC has offered to pay $200K, but only if you keep me as an attorney and I get most of the money – please sign here)!
If you can’t trust your own local news stations to give it to you straight – who can you trust?