First the media blitz, then the backtracking. Two weeks ago, the news organizations and television programs had breathlessly announced the news that John Mark Karr had been arrested in the death of
JonBenet Ramsey. News of Mr. Karr's arrest had landed on the front pages of the country's biggest newspapers and filled hundreds of hours on the cable talk shows that had obsessively covered the case.
On Monday, however, Mary T. Lacy, the Boulder County district attorney, announced that charges against Mr. Karr would be dropped after tests revealed that his DNA sample did not match the unidentified
DNA found on JonBenet Ramsey. Now news organizations are examining their coverage and debating issues of overkill.
Read the whole story at The New York Times »
