I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been paying much attention to the Jodi Arias case. You may not even know her by name, as the media has taken to almost exclusively referring to her as “the boyfriend killer.”
Though you wouldn’t know it by the media portrayal, which seems to delight in every detail of the case, it does actually involve the death of another human being.
Jodi Arias has been on trial in Arizona and has been charged with the first-degree murder of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Arias admits to killing Alexander in 2008. She claims to have done so in self-defense. Alexander was stabbed 27 times and shot in the face.
Arias has been on the witness stand for just over two weeks. Despite this, the case has focused less on the murder itself and more on the sexual exploits of Arias and her boyfriend.
If you aren’t familiar with the case, don’t worry, over at the Huffington Post, you can view the crime scene photos for yourself. You can also view Jodi Arias personal photos and look at a “Who’s Who” of the case. It reads like an IMDB listing. Speaking of which, I give it exactly three months before Lifetime announces that this story will be made into a movie starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Is there a problem with any of this? Should all of these things be made public? I’m not one for censorship of any kind. I am one, however, for some modicum of integrity. Treating the case as it should be treated, with a seriousness that the murder of another human being deserves would be a great start. That won’t happen, though, because Jodi Arias is exactly the kind of woman that the American public finds titillating. So we will continue to be saturated with every ounce of detail and coverage that can be squeezed out of this trial.
Why do we care so much about these particular cases? I highly doubt you see Headline News devoting its prime time coverage to the other murder trials that happen every day.
This is essentially the holy grail of news reporting and it gets ratings because we can’t tear ourselves away from the obscenity of it all.
The problem with these stories?
They don’t play out like a Hollywood film or an episode of Law and Order. The Arias case will continue. In coming days she will answer some 100 questions posed by jurors and I’m sure everyone will be hanging on to her every last word.