How The O.J. Ordeal Broke America
It's Tentacles Reach All the Way Up to the Current Day
The White Bronco chase was only the beginning.
For younger readers and those who have memory holed it out of PTSD, that day was one of the most surreal in American history. The day before, LAPD had been at Simpson’s house already collecting evidence. Simpson had flown to Chicago the night of the murders (about an hour after they happened) and had returned. LAPD had originally cuffed him when he was on site but then relented and uncuffed him. The cameras, fixated on what had happened (there were few details yet) and being as intrusive on the sight of Simpson’s Rockingham estate as possible were in hyperdrive, postulating what it meant for one of America’s most well known former athletes and an L.A. celebrity.
To keep matters calm, when the LAPD planned to arrest Simpson, working through his attorney, Robert Shapiro, Shapiro negotiated that Simpson would turn himself in. When Simpson didn’t show, all hell broke loose and the LAPD had to announce there was now a manhunt for O.J. Simpson. All sorts of rumors started to fly, the media went into a feeding frenzy speculating about the murders, trying everything to try and find him. When he was spotted on an L.A. Freeway in a White Bronco with A.C. Cowlings, the entrie nation stopped what they were doing to watch what was unfolding as the helicoptors encircled the event like vultures about to pounce on its prey and scavange whatever they could.
And thus began, a sensationalized, over the top media atmosphere we are still living through today.
The Tabloid Media of the ‘90s
To be sure, tabloid media has been around forever, but it was usually relegated as a “low class, unreliable grocery store rag.” It was meant more to tittilate and be sensational than it was to actually report facts and be objective. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the format migrated more to afternoon television. The first “pioneer” in this respects was Geraldo Rivera. Rivera had made a name for himself as a decent journalist to that point, although very narcissitic and self-promoting.1 After a syndicated debacle with the opening of “Al Capone’s Vault”2 his reputation as a journalist was a little tarnished but it was a ratings bonanza turning Rivera into a household name. He parlayed that into an afternoon talk show.
The template was simple; put two or more competing interests on the stage at the same time and encourage conflict. The conflict ignited engagement and attracted eyeballs in the same way it was impossible not to watch a trainwreck. The more contentious the issue, the better the results. Racism (KKK, Neo-Nazis, etc.) was always a big draw, and the subjectiveness of the format fed into the audience’s ids. The bigger the conflict, the more eyeballs. At it’s peak, when he had neo-Nazis on, one chucked a chair at Rivera hitting him in the face and breaking his nose. America tuned in.
If Rivera was the template, the master at it was Jerry Springer. What began as a semi-serious discussion panel show quickly devolved into an outrageous calamity of ridiculousness. It was a circus, and its ringmaster was this former legislator from Ohio who let anything go. At one point, Springer was the second highest rated show on syndication behind only Oprah.
All of these sensationalized forces were already growing and festering when the O.J. Trial started. They were all seen as junk food journalism. But with O.J., it infected mainstream media too.
Mainstream Journalism Collapses
There were five major factors at play that impacted how the MSM covered the OJ trial, which still impacts how major stories like this are covered to this day.
The rise of cable news and the 24/7 news culture. Consumers of news were no longer conforming to the digestion of news only in the mornings and the nightly news. They were tuning into CNN, a fledgling cable offshoot between NBC News and Bill Gates called “MSNBC,” and the start of FOX news. Now, the problem with that is that they have to report on things around the clock, even when nothing noteworthy is going on. The OJ Simpson Trial created the perfect filler for cable news to use to take up huge portions of time on cable news. 3 Any angle, no matter how insignificant, legitimate or objective, became fodder to fill airwaves.
The corporatization of news outlets. Entertainment and corporate entities started gobbling up news outlets. It was no longer a priority to report the news objectively or truthfully, but rather the bottom line became the driving force. In that regard, sensationalized TV news and its methods became a source of profitability; the network heads looked at what drove viewers to Geraldo and Springer and utilized some of those exact same methods to juice the audience.
The audience’s insatiable appetite for more news. “Infotainment” became a word in the ‘90s based on what was occurring. The Internet was just starting out and wasn’t yet a great medium for updates yet, but people craved to know immediately whenever any new developments occurred. When nothing new occurred, the same material was repurposed and repackaged in a new way to give people the appearance of it being new. The proliferation of panel shows where people just talked and kvetched about whatever new tidbit was released. It was a neverending spiral of newsishness that never resolved itself. Networks didn’t want resolution; they wanted engagement. The result was an audience addicted and conforming to an endless news cycle.
Cameras in the courtroom. Much like Springer, the O.J. Simpson trial turned into a complete circus, largely orchestrated by O.J.’s attorneys who were fully aware of what they were doing. Much of their posturing and postulating had little to do with the facts of the case or the actual trial itself, it had to do with entertaining, evoking an outrage, and engaging an audience, almost all of which was not in that courtoom but watching at home across the country. Court TV was created as a network specifically to cover the O.J. Trial. The Trial turned everyone associated with it into national celebrities. The defense knew that the more they played into America’s base instincts, particularly about race, the greater the chance they could get O.J. off of the charges. Both the facts and the law were not really in their favor, so they pounded on the table with the issues they had the most control over and turned the trial into a Must See TV show. It worked.
The MSM’s problems with objectivity. Too often, news outlets cover news not really objectively but “even-handedly.” In the case of O.J., they stressed that they wanted to make sure O.J. had a fair trial and that the evidence pointed in both directions. Objectively, this was bullshit. It pointed really only in one direction and that was squarely at Simpson. However, that doesn’t maintain an audience. Likewise, the OJ story flirted with the lines that are extremely divisive in American culture, particularly class and race. What keeps people engaged? Broadcasting facts that counter an obvious narrative and maintain an aura of an undetermined outcome. What facts received the most attention?
Mark Fuhrmann. The LAPD detective who first found the bloody glove at Simpson’s home had a history of racist comments, including an outright scandalous series of tape recordings he made working with an author wanting a template for a racist cop in LAPD. One of the people Fuhrman disparaged in the recordings was Judge Lance Ito’s wife (who was the Police Commissioner). In addition, Fuhrman earlier in his career sued the LAPD for worker’s compensation saying working there had made him prone to racism and caused PTSD.
The bloody glove. “The glove didn’t fit, you must acquit.” To be sure, Simpson was wearing latex gloves underneath them and hadn’t taken his arthritis meds which caused his hands to swell, but this really was a blunder by Marcia Clark and Chris Darden to make him try the gloves on. Simpson trying on the gloves was a made for TV event that drew the most news coverage during the trial, but once it didn’t fit, the picture became iconic and a source of doubt the networks promoted in the name of being objective (again, not objective, even-handed).
Every error by the LAPD in handling the case. No case is ever perfect. In this one, some minor errors and even a couple egregious ones were amplified by the defense.4 When you have attorneys as intelligent and photogenic as Simpson had, they leant credibility to even the most ludicrous of insinuations. Again, all of this had the impact of making all the factual evidence (which was substantial) seem more like a house of cards rather than the rock solid case that it actually was.
What wasn’t covered in the same way? The victims. Out of respect for the families, the actual crime scene photos, including bloody footprints and blood smears at Rockingham and at the Bundy crime scene, along with extemely graphic pictures of how the bodies were found, were never shown directly on television. Ron Goldman, a waiter returning glasses who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, was never really depicted as a person. Nicole’s calls to 9-1-1 made for compelling news stories but often were overshadowed by other events, and the audience never got a glimpse of the eventual outcome the prosecution needed to convey; the murders themselves. One wonders if the outcome and thoughts would be different had the pictures been made public, and the facts of the blood evidence adequately explained.
And its that last problem we still find ourselves in most. The Media has had the hardest of times trying to cover someone like Donald Trump accurately. They try too much to be even-handed about it instead of being objective. In 2016, they let him speak without filter giving speeches and the networks covered him thinking his own words would be his undoing. Instead what it did was give him a huge platform to spout mistruths and outright lies, and propagandize himself into the White House. Then they thought fact checkers would help curb his worst statements, but what that did was make it seem like “Trump is saying this, we are saying the opposite,” giving it the appearance of an opinion rather than fact.
Today we find ourselves in similar situations as his criminal trials begin. For instance, rather than noting that 1) Trump actually DID pay off a porn star, practically by his own admission and 2) lied about it on financial forms, the media is promoting this as the first time a former President has faced a criminal trial and discussing it as if the outcome has yet to be determined.5 They are focusing attention on other cases too much on Judge Aileen Cannon or on every little nugget trying to determine which way the wind is going to blow rather than objectively saying, “Trump really did keep classified documents, lied about it, refused to turn them back over when asked, and those documents included national security secrets, left right out in the open in places known agents of foreign countries had access to.”
But stating and reiterating something that definitive doesn’t drive engagement or bring people to watch in the future, driving ratings. Instead, they want to drag this out as long as they can in the most contrived way it can. They want people talking and considering and reconsidering every little variable. They want to know what George Conway or David Axelrod think about it. They want Anderson Cooper to be able to have a 7 person panel both pro and con talking about how this impacts Biden. They want to bring in former Trump associates for their opinions so they can underscore how fair they are being. They want to have Nicole Wallace and Mika Brezynski argue with every fiber of their beings about how Trump is unfit to be President and how he should be in prison. In short, they want engagement. After all, they have a near infinite amount of time to fill and internet news to push, talk about, advocate and reconsider.
And that is how OJ became the template for the media circus we continue to find ourselves in. Mainstream news came down to tabloid level and has just stayed there. It has work to do to pull itself out.
PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories
Without a doubt, the most definitive account of the O.J. Simpson story is the documentary, “OJ: Made in America.” The 8 hour documentary doesn’t just cover the events of the murders, it covers everything from his upbringing, standout years at USC, the atmosphere of LA, what made him a merchandisable superstar and eventually all the qualities that led to his downfall. Somehow, it still doesn’t feel long enough and leaves you wanting more. Its probably the best docmentary I’ve ever seen and should be watched, if only just to understand the times in which all of this occurred.
PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner
The best thing every to capture how the news transformed in the 80s and 90s was Don Henley with his song “Dirty Laundry.” Nothing else even comes close.
But if you want another movie that reflects on news and fame, the early 90s film “To Die For” starring Nicole Kidman and Joachin Phoenix is excellent, and loosely based on real life events.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
More than 150 million viewers tuned in live to the OJ Simpson verdict, making it second only to the Apollo 11 Moon Landing for American viewership.
The next 30 highest rated events are all Super Bowls, The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Final M*A*S*H* episode.
Given the fragmentation of the viewing audience and the advent of streaming over the Internet and social media sources, it seems unlikely there will be an event that large again anytime soon.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
We’re going to give it to the most authoritative person ever on television network news who spoke at length about integrity and objectivity, Edward R. Murrow. He once gave a speech on the very topic we are talking about. The transcript and speech are extensively long, but when George Clooney made “Good Night and Good Luck” about Murrow’s fight against McCarthyism, he provided an abbreviated version if it here, as delivered by Oscar nominee for the role, David Strathairn:
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
The Robert Downey Jr. character in Natural Born Killers was fashioned on Rivera.
The Lexington Hotel in Chicago was about to be torn down, and it was where Capone had lived rent-free during the 1920s until his incarceration. There as found a portion of the basement that had been closed up, and Rivera seeing an opportunity billed it as “Al Capone’s Secret Vault.” When it was opened on live TV, all that came out was a lot of soil fill and some junk like a sign and 1920s era knickknacks. Nonethless, it was a huge ratings success.
The only other thing in the 90s that came remotely close was the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair and Impeachment.
This really was where having effective counsel matters. Being able to afford Lee Bailey, Robert Shapiro, Johnny Cochrane and Barry Scheck, these extremely intelligent and competent lawyers made mincemeat out of every fact witness, taking the smallest of things and blowing gaping huge holes into them. A defendant without the money Simpson had would never get as well of counsel and those holes would seem what they typically were, minor issues instead of grand conspiracies.
While all of this is indeed against the law, I’m more inclined to believe prosecuting this on the existing pretexts is a little salacious, gratuitous and frivolous. I’m not convinced anyone else would be prosecuted in a similar situation. The other criminal cases though are legitimately cause for prosecution.