This article is about a child who is missing. Click here for information about this child from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The usual herd of media, particularly Fox News , has been reporting virtually nonstop on every possible detail of the case of missing Orlando toddler Caylee Anthony, whose whereabouts have been unknown for over a month. This coverage has been on the supposed pretext of urging someone to come forward with information about Caylee’s whereabouts or her disappearance. However, this justification is unconvincing, as it quickly delves into gory details unrelated to anything that could reasonably be considered helpful information.
Obviously a photo is good, and this may be helpful information:
The lawyer for Casey Anthony, mother of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, disclosed late Tuesday that the family had received a credible tip that a small child matching Caylee’s description was seen boarding a flight to Atlanta at Orlando International Airport.
This seems largely like exploitative speculation:
The odor of "decomposition" was also detected in the vehicle, he told the judge presiding over Casey Anthony’s bond hearing Tuesday afternoon.
"The smell I smelled was that of decomposition," Melich said.
Investigators used cadaver dogs to search the child’s grandparents’ yard last week after a neighbor told them Anthony had asked to borrow a shovel around the time her daughter Caylee was last seen.
This sounds remarkably similar to a video by The Onion meant to highlight this exact type of reporting:
Missing Girl Probably Raped
Fox News and similar types of outlets should provide the information needed, but stop vulturing around this poor kid and her family. Again, here’s a link to some credible information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
This is what happens when news goes 24/7/365.25.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
What? if this girl has a chance the media would find her. Had the daughter Casey not been crazy and harmed her daughter, then she would noy be all over the news. Hair, Possible blood and smell of human decompisition does not seem so speculative Mr Steven Covington.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
While there certainly is no shortage of stories that cable news networks can exploit and engage in wild speculation - this isn’t one of them. You should have read the police report and listened to the bail hearing before you posted this; Youre uninformed.
The facts are that the mother has repeatedly lied to police about her own whereabouts and that of her daughter. That in itself generates public interest because it is so bizarre - for a mother to have a ‘missing’ toddler and not want to help investigate.
Cadaver dogs, trained to signal ONLY when in the presence of two HUMAN decomposition compounds - signaled when near the mother’s abandoned car. (Incidentally, there is no answer as to why this car was abandoned next to a check-cashing store.). The investigating homicide detective who has spent a decade solving murders said that the car reeked of human decomposition products, that hair similar to that of the toddler’s was found in the trunk of the car and that other suspect fluids were being evaluated.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for the mother suggests the mother knows more but isn’t talking.
This is certainly a newsworthy story, and your suggestion that the media is ‘guessing’ and speculating is just wrong. The facts as spelled out in the police report and the bond hearing are 99% of what we’re hearing on the news and are morbidly fascinating.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
CT - what happened to innocent until proven guilty? There is no evidence proving anything in this case - just a LOT of speculation.
The smell of decomposition could have been a rat for all anyone knows. If it was in fact decomposition. Smells can be deceiving even to a trained expert.
Hair being in the trunk means nothing. People put stuff in their trunk all the time. Hair can easily transfer from personal belongings.
Possible blood - your own statement nullifies that one - possible. Well it is just as possible it isn’t blood. Even if it is blood and it turns out to be the kid’s blood - a kid gets a cut - you wipe it up and throw the towel in the trunk - you have transfer of blood.
I am not saying the woman is innocent or guilty. I am just saying there is no proof of any crime right now.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
What Reginald and CT have said exactly confirms what the original article was about.
This is not about the mother or what she did or didn’t do; forget about her. This is about the CHILD - Caylee Anthony. She’s all over the news, and the media is indeed making all sorts of wild speculations about whether she might be dead, buried, etc.
None of this is relevant to actually FINDING the child. They’re just driving up ratings at the expense of the child.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children does wonderful work but they are not watched by millions. Thanks to Fox News for keeping us posted on all the details.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Here Is A Video Of Caylee’s Grandmother Telling Of The Botched Job The Police Are Doing.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7047071&version=1&locale=EN-US
They Are So Busy Focusing On The Mother No One Is Looking For Caylee The 2 Year Old Victim.
The Police Just Want To Nab The Mom For Murder But, They Hold Her Only As A Person Of Interest!
I Am Sure No One Would Like To Rot In Jail While Their Daughter Is Missing. Casey Isn’t Charged With Anything Yet But, The Police Are More Then Happy To Take Away Her Constitutional Rights And OURS While They Hold Her In Custody.
Last Time I Checked In The United States Of America We Are Innocent Until Proven Guilty!
What If Someone Did Go To Atlanta With Caylee? Who’s Following That Lead?
July 24th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I agree that the media should focus on finding Caylee until if and when the forensic experts have some definite findings regarding what they found in the car.
The bad part about assuming that casey is guilty is that if caylee is still alive people are not really actively searching for her 100% because some will assume it is too late.
I don’t feel sorry for casey. Somebody should just kick her in the butt. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she accidentally killed her daugher in which case she would really be better off admitting it at this point and stand trial for manslaughter and child abuse.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
It all ties into that the media is not here to inform, it is here to entertain and nothing more.
When you have ‘news reports’ about polls that networks put up on their website then you know that they have tanked.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:45 am
THIS LITTLE GIRL NEEDS TO BE FOUND !!!!!!!!!! As a parent it is your job to know where your child is at all time and for this little girl to be gone a whole month before she even told her own family is just crazy to me. I agree she needs to be in jail for child endangerment, If my child was kidnapped by a care giver i would not start my own search, to tell you the truth i would not even be able to breath let alone visit with friends or what ever she was doing for that month. So time in jail is what she has coming to her. Lord only knows what that poor child is or has be put threw. All at the hands of her own mother.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Oh, absolutely: it’s all the media’s fault when a mother seems to have thoroughly misplaced her child, fails to report it for a month, provides the police with NO helpful information that might help locate the little girl, and the grandparents are saying strange things like, ‘well, she wants to help but just isn’t ready to.’ What the heck does that mean? Where is Caylee? Oh yeah, and the only possible sighting of the girl is a tip supposedly given only to the grandparents. Surely I cannot be the only one who finds them to be less-than-credible sources at this point.
If finding Caylee is so important, why not criticize the mother who has wasted so much police by giving out one lie after another? Why is it logical to assume that surely she is innocent; she just doesn’t seem to be.
Most people have a pretty good idea where their children are. If a child goes missing for more than a few minutes they sound the alarm. If someone kidnaps the child, they call the police — immediately, not a month later. This family seems to have done none of those things. Why is it odd that people find the entire story odd? Of course people are speculating that the girl is dead. She has either been given away, sold, or is dead. Seeing as how none of these is legal, it’s not surprising that the news media is all over it.
I think it’s true that news networks do overwork stories and this one is no exception. But it’s a real story. Why is it that only non-family members seem to care where Caylee might be?
July 28th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Well Ell it is logical to assume she is innocent because that is how our courts work.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The error in your logic comes from the assumption that it’s somehow the media’s job to try the facts in criminal cases before it hits a courtroom. It’s not, and we have become such a self-centric, narcissistic culture that we each think it is somehow the role of each of us to pass judgment on something like this as if it’s the neighborhood gossip.
The mother may have behaved suspiciously, but that is not the business of either you, I or anyone else except for law enforcement handling the case and the courts. Everyone seems to think that their opinion as an armchair detective matters, but it is totally irrelevant. All we’re doing is polluting the pool of possible jury candidates and flapping our gums.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
No; assuming she is innocent is a legal definition. That doesn’t necessarily apply to ordinary conversation, which is all this media coverage is. Like I said, if the mother could manage to produce a straightforward story this wouldn’t be news. If the grandparents could manage to shut up, or at least keep one of their stories straight, this would be a far smaller story. But they can’t or won’t.
And, yes, it is tabloidy and gossipy, granted. But it’s interesting in a trainwreck kind of way. How often does a mother come home and neglect to mention that she has no idea where her daughter is? The mother *may* have behaved suspiciously? I don’t think there’s any may about it: she has behaved suspiciously. Very suspiciously. Who on earth tells police that she left her daughter at a location that is unhabited and provides names that don’t check out? All this speculation is just a natural consequence of the family failing to say or do anything that makes sense. None of this would matter under normal circumstances except that a little girl is missing.
I think you might be missing the main reason why people jump in to discuss stories like this. It’s not because everyone fancies themselves to be Perry Mason; it’s because nearly all of us can imagine ourselves in the basic situation, namely caring for a child or loved one. We either have experienced the terrifying moments we lost a kid in a store, or couldn’t find our beloved dog, or whatever. No one waits a month to report a small child missing. This *is* a man-bites-dog story. Besides, this isn’t all useless gossip: there are still plenty of people who are hoping against hope that the little girl will be found alive somewhere. If making a huge media noise about it helps, the heck with decorum.
And the official legal system, which is charged with presuming her innocent, finds the mother’s behavior to be so suspicious that she has been jailed. This is not the public’s fault; it’s hers. And I respect the comment about polluting a jury pool, but can’t really see where a jury isn’t going to hear all of this in far greater, gorier detail when the time comes. As much as people are talking now, I still suspect that the police haven’t released a good bit of information. I’m going to make a wild guess, but not on television, that the police were suspicious of the mother from the time of the first 9-1-1 call.
Of course if the mother comes to trial she must be presumed to be innocent. The prosecutors will have to make their case beyond a doubt which is as it should be. I cannot help this young woman; this is her daughter and her life. If she refuses to talk to the police she’ll have to deal with the consequences.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
She is innocent until proven guilty - not guilty until proven innocent. I think that based on the information the news and the lead investigators in Orange County are giving us, Casey sounds guilty however, we have a missing child and the focus of the lead detectives should not be on Casey Anthony they should be focused on finding this little girl. There have been several developments in this case that would also indicate that Caylee is alive and if she does prove to be alive and well, Orange County investigators, especially the experienced decomposition smeller are going to look like a bunch of fools. Why do we have Cadaver dogs if we have lead investigators that can smell decomposition of humans
July 28th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I suspect that the focus of the investigation is on Casey Anthony because the police have a serious suspicion that she knows where her daughter is or what happened to her. In this particular case of a missing child, the police were unable to question the parent for information, rule her out as a suspious person, and concentrate on others. All roads now (that I am aware of) lead back to the mother. If they can get the mother to tell the truth, they might find Caylee or her body.
That’s why mom is in jail: not only has she not gotten out of the way of the police, her wild tales have resulted in a great deal of wasted time and effort. If the focus is supposed to be on the little girl, mom has done nothing to make it so.
If she does prove to be alive and well, the investigators still won’t look like fools. Unless they have made up the story about the nanny and the empty apartment, there will be no way to erase the fact that the mother and grandparents’ stories didn’t add up, resulting in an enormous amount of effort — and public money — being wasted. Giving false statements to the police is a crime and this family appears to have made plenty of them. They cannot complain that the police have failed to make progress as they have continued to provide one false lead after another, or continue to change their stories almost daily. They are supposed to be helping, not hindering.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Why is this girl such a big deal? Someone important? No? Oh, missing white girl again. I saw her picture so I’ll let someone know if I see her.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Well Ell, looks like you are on your own.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
No problem! I actually happen to agree that the various networks work nearly every story to death. I thought the people at FOX were going to have a coronary when Anna Nicole Smith died — and there was no one missing in that case. I think the talk does expand to fill the time available.
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Stop watching cable media and the nonsense might stop. It is terrible sickening and sad that things like this happen. I am the mother of a 3 year-old and can’t even fathom what the truth could possibly be; I am left to listen to rantings by big media…and I refuse to fall victim to it for ratings. People love to hear grizzly details whether they realize it or not, and unfortunately, this little girl is a victim in more ways than one.
August 4th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Oh shut up Lisa and everyone else that says the media is giving too many details. How is it even possible to give TOO MUCH information on a case? Don’t you want as much information as possible to help solve the case? And if they find the kid she isn’t gonna even know how big of a deal her being gone was, she’s like what 2 yrs old for God’s sake! And besides, it’s a GOOD thing that so many people care and want her found! Plus, it’s the media’s JOB to report information. This is a crazy case! Of course the information is gonna be all over the news! Come on people climb out of the hole you live in! Look at the O.J. Simpson case, JonBennet Ramsey, Madeline McCann, Columbine…when a story is really crazy the details are gonna get out there! If that bitch that killed her daughter is gonna be considered innocent until proven guilty then the gory details of what she did to her daughter are gonna be all over the news, it’s disgusting you people are defending her feel sorry for the sick muderer! I feel sorry for YOU and hope you don’t have children!
August 4th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Like KS Dallas…what a fucking dumbass!
August 4th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Kylie,
Most of the information being reported is totally irrelevant to finding Caylee. No one here feels bad for the murderer, but the media apparently does, because they’re following the mother around like a lost puppy.
This is not a “crazy case”; it’s just one that the media is able to turn into a dramatic story to keep people in their seats and watching. The sort of irrational emotionalism that you display is absolutely key to continuing the mindless type of trivial reporting we’ve seen in this situation and many of the others that you mention - OJ, etc. Those cases were relatively minor and really didn’t deserve the massive coverage.
And yes, the mother is innocent until proven guilty - we have an actual court system, not a judge from a daytime soap drama to decide things.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:23 am
You are a fucking dumbass kylie!!
That is the worst non sequitur argument I have heard in a long time.
Criticizing the media coverage is akin to siding with the little girl’s likely murderer? PLEASE! This is my country and I’ll stand up and criticize the media coverage if I choose!
Go back to whatever communist hellhole you came from, you pansy liberal shit and keep practicing your goosestep.
August 4th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I’m really not sure what is going on with this case. You always want to believe that a mother is telling the truth….especially when your child is missing. But, the sad reality is, there are sick people out there, mothers or not. The reason most people are against Casey is because of the way the case has gone so far. Not reporting your child missing for a month definitely seems very odd. Then, the lie after lie. As a mother I want to believe that she was kidnapped. The truth will come out eventually. If she did kill her daughter, whether by accident or on purpose, we will find out. Maybe we should not judge her, but everyone does. Wouldnt it be weird if she is telling the truth? I hope they find Caylee alive and the Casey gets some help. Either way Casey needs some guidance. Lets pray for both of them!
August 4th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
The media will turn any story, however mundane, into a spectacularly overhyped drama. They will never fail to create heroes, villains, and plot twists as they see fit. Anyone questioning this is quickly hit with a barrage of “But look what _______ did! That’s horrible!” as if that emotionalism somehow justifies the whirlwind of hype.
Criminal trials should be treated more seriously than the gossip circuses they’re spun into by the 24/7 news cycle.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
OK. Yeah, the bizarreness of this story makes good theater. But I’m pretty sure there are other missing girls, boys and adults in this country too. Why aren’t the media helping us find them as well?
I want to find Caylee too…and all the other kids on posters, milk cartons and bulletin boards around the country.
It just seems there are a lot of pretty, white people who go missing according to cable news. The black and brown people in this country seem pretty safe.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Carlos, WTF is your problem?? You should know brown and black people don’t matter any more than the fly on the wall. If a kid any darker than mocha milk goes missing, hell, they’ll just make another. There’s plenty anyway and the parents probably won’t even notice. But white kids, well we’re running out of them. We can’t afford to lose another, so it’s pull out the stops for them.
And the really ghetto black kids, well Nancy Grace would probably like them to go missing anyway. You know they’re just going to grow up to be criminals, holding up the liquor store and jacking white people’s cars.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Wow the US is a funny place! If you’re a pretty little white girl who goes missing the media rapes you and acts like they are doing you a service. If you’re not, no one cares what happens to you.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
OMG… I am sickened by those horrible white kid, black kid comments… WTF….. Who in the HELL doesnt report their kid missing for 31 days? Even 31 minutes???? My only hope for this beautiful little girl is, that her mom, who opted for drugs and partying, over motherhood, left her daughter with a babysitter (who she didnt even know, but didnt matter as long as she was free to party), and this babysitter realized that kidnapping this child was the only way Caylee would have a decent and norman life, did so, and is risking everything for this little girl……… That would be the best case scenerio…..
Case WAS considered innocent until proven guilty, but she proved some sort of guilt by all of the lies she has told, and the wild goose chases she has led investigators on. I am glued to my TV, waiting to see this littl girl alive, I’m sorry ya’ll think the media is overdoing it, but I am glad they are. The more eyes out there, the better chance someone will recognize her, and hopefull find her a decent family to place her.
BTW…. Kuddos Kylie!!!!!! Im with you, and agree with everything you said.
Oh, and whoever this Yolanda person is, I take it she’s not white!!!!
well, guess what???? neither are my precious grandbabies, and i love the more than anything in this world….. Give me a break!!!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
What’s “white”? Have we come up with a way to tell who’s white and who’s not?
August 18th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Stephen Covington Says:
August 17th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
What’s “white”? Have we come up with a way to tell who’s white and who’s not?
Oh Come on Stephen, You seem like a fairly smart individual, just read the comments, and then you tell me………….
August 18th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Well, you may be fairly smart too, so you tell me…by even looking at someone, how do you tell whether they’re white, black, or whatever? People keep saying Obama is “black” but he doesn’t look like the majority of dark-skinned Africans to me.
Soledad O’Brien is apparently hispanic, or black, or both…which seems completely bizarre, because she looks white to me. I know people who have skin slightly darker than her - they regularly pass as natives in South America, but have nothing of what we would call hispanic genetic background. Does that make them hispanic - just looking the part? Apparently so.
With an objective tool like a ruler or tape measure, I can measure with some degree of certainty when an object is a certain dimension. Using a camera and image software, I can measure the wavelength of the light coming reflected by a particular object (ie, the color).
But how do I measure race? Is there a particular value of melanin in the skin that separates whites from blacks? Is it minute differences in the shape of their noses? Does it depend on their responses to a standardized 100-question test? Is there some bright line rule that I can use?
Obviously there’s nothing at all like that…any evaluation about someone’s race that you make is your own, or their own, if they’ve made a decision to become a member of a racial group. Even genetic testing depends on the use of “many other blacks/whites/whoever” as a control testing group by which to compare results.
If people want to use racial groups as a convenient identifier or categorization tool, there’s nothing wrong with that - so long as it doesn’t get out of hand and become a divisive factor. We should remember that it’s completely a social construct that has no basis in reality.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I can never get good service in stores some people say its my leather like green skin but I think my red eyes are the first thing they notice. anyway the world isnt safe yet for mutants.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Momx, your comments are typical when it comes to the racist liberals in this country that feed these media wolves. Yeah, all black people are thugs and need your hand up. Get a job and stop watching those pus sacks on fox news warble to a sheeple audience.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
FYI…… I do have a job, and a damn good one at that…. aaaaand I DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT watch Fox News!!!!! OK…. ya’ll won… have your racial beliefs, use your racial slurs, I dont have a problem being what you would consider a “racial liberal”…. It is “racial liberals” like me that make this place a peaceful place to live… I have friends of all races, however, I would not be in a bi-racial relationship. To each his own.. that is an individuals choice. Yolanda? What exactly is a Pus Sack? Is that a race? I wonder where you heard about this Caylee Anthony story? Oh let me guess… you happened to see it as you were walking through Best Buy? Or possibly on the NEWS???????? So would that make you a “sheeple audience”? Something makes me think that you are not a very happy person…. Where I come from, we just dont understand people like ya’ll, our brains just dont work that way…. a person is a person is a person is a person….. black, white, brown, yellow or even green leather with red eyes…..
Ya’ll have a great evening…. And when you get a chance, come on down to Texas and see how the other side lives!!!!!! Who knows, you might even leave here a happy little camper!!!
August 19th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Oh, and Stephen, you got me.. I am totally speechless!! I sure cant top that, you lost me on the Obama thing……….
August 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Where/how did I lose you? The idea that race is a social construction is a fundamental concept of the civil rights movement. I’ve yet to hear anyone come up with a way to tell what race any particular person belongs to. Try to explain to someone why they’re white and not black, or black and not white, or asian and not black or white, and you’ll find it’s extremely difficult.