Flaming Hand

I call for an indictment of Nancy Grace, and her producer(s)at CNN.

The charge: obstruction of justice.

Right along with them should be every newspaper editor that lets a headline slide past that insinuates the reporting of a fact when the fact is not concrete and someone's potential guilt is involved.

This is in no way an endorsement of violent crime, nor is it even a passionate plea for criminal rights. It's a call for responsibility and accountability. I know I, as an individual, can easily be charged with obstruction of justice for any number of personal actions. I do not see this law being applied equally to large corporate entities.

Last I knew, a person is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Breathless high-visibility reporting that claims to resolve a high-profile case before it goes to trial is irresponsible activity at best. In my mind it is criminal.

I'm sure CNN has a cadre of lawyers that have assured the slime involved that no laws are being violated, that the show is classified as *entertainment* but lets look at the impact on the average viewer, shall we? The average viewer might actually expect that CNN is reporting news, and not necessarily opinion. I would be surprised if there were no disclaimers broadcast that the show is expressing unprofessional opinion, but I have personally never seen said disclaimer, regardless of their specific wording.

The end results are that the only persons who can really claim to not have had any media exposure are likely so far removed from typical society to no longer effectively be considered anyone's peer.

I think it's high time the citizens of this country stood up to media forcing opinion disguised as fact. In the face of personal publishing and social networking, these entities need to realize that people are not anywhere near as complacent and tolerant of fools as they have been in our nation's past.