"Another one of those good old media shamings has begun," reports Gal Beckerman in a
CJR Daily piece titled "Won't Get Fooled Again?" Since news broke that John Karr, who confessed to the 1996
murder of JonBenet Ramsey, would be released from custody without charge, "media critics have been breathing fire." And Karr's now-presumed innocence has exposed the media madness that accompanied his
arrest, highlighted by details of the food he ate on an extradition flight out of Bangkok. Of course, she notes, there were indicators 12 days ago when Karr's arrest was first announced that should
have alerted journalists and editors to be cautious. As early as Aug. 17, the holes in his confession were clear. Still, a paper "no less venerable than
The New York Times put 13 reporters ...
on the story that first day." Plus, broadcast news, according to the weekly
Tyndall Report, gave more hours to the case last week than to Iraq, the foiled plot to blow up transatlantic flights,
the Israel-Lebanon conflict, or Iran's nuclear ambitions.
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