Thursday, May 10, 2007

Nancy's Fall From Grace



The verdict was handed down from Court TV this week--Nancy Grace's show on the network would be cut from 2 hours to 1 hour, to make room for a show hosted by Star Jones. Grace, who spent 10 years with the network, quickly responded that she is leaving her show "Nancy Grace: Closing Arguments" to focus full-time on her legal analysis program, "Nancy Grace" on CNN Headline News. And quite frankly, I am glad we are going to see less of Nancy and that we can now contain her to one network.
I have a great disliking for Grace, who in my opinion, brings drama to the news set--making a bad name for legal analysts. Her antics on her show and attitude were "disgraceful." I lost most of my respect for Grace after her interview with Melinda Duckett (whose 2-year-old son had gone missing) ended with Duckett dead because she had shot herself after Grace grilled her and called her an irresponsible mother. While this incident was later turned into an episode of Law & Order, the fact remains that Grace was believed to be responsible for this woman's death. Critics cited that Grace blamed the weak-minded woman and attacked her verbally and had actually convicted the mother for the disappearance. While it is great for attorneys to cross-examine witnesses in a court of law, she did this as a journalist--and journalists should not play judge and jury--they should stick to delivering the facts. If I were Court TV, I would be so very greatful that this monster is leaving. Every other show on the network is great besides hers.
Oh and let us not forget the interview with Elizabeth Smart, the kidnapped 14-year-old girl she badgered. Finally, Smart had to tell Grace to stop. (If this isn't a red flag I do not know what is--that this woman should not be allowed to interview anyone, let alone a child.)The following is the transcript from the interview:
GRACE: Did your kidnappers tell you they would hurt you or your family if you tried to get away?

ELIZABETH SMART: You know, they did. And I really am here to support the bill and not to go into what — you know, what happened to me, what the whole — like, what is in my past because I`m not here to give an interview on that. I`m here to help push this bill through.

GRACE: And I want you to push the bill through and I want people to hear your voice.

When we take a look back, there`s a shot of Elizabeth Smart, and here she is, four years later. And frankly, it`s a miracle that she was ever found. You know, a lot of people have seen shots of you wearing a burqa. How did you see out of that thing?

ELIZABETH SMART: You know, I`m really not going to talk about this at this time. I mean, that`s something I just don`t even look back at. And I really — I really — to be frankly honest, I really don`t appreciate you bringing all this up.

GRACE: I`m sorry, dear. I thought that you would speak out to other victims. But you know what? I completely understand. A lot of victims don`t want to talk about it and don`t feel like talking about it.

Clearly, if a 14-year-old knows something is wrong with Grace's interview tactics, she is not fit to be on television or talking to anyone--after all, her body count is at one. Anyway, I am glad Grace is off one show--lets get her out of CNN too. Let TV be rid of garbage and lets bring in quality legal analysts--not jokers.

2 Comments:

At Friday, May 11, 2007, Blogger Amanda said...

I've never seem a Nancy Grace show. She sounds awful. The transcript with Elizabeth Smart says a lot. What were her producers thinking while this was going on? Couldn't there have been an intervention?

 
At Saturday, May 12, 2007, Blogger Abby Gustus Alford said...

I agree... Nancy Grace does get a little too much air time for the quality of the program. But... I will admit that I am always entertained when I watch her show. But, is that where I should get information that could be considered news? Probably not. I watch her show for the pure entertainment value.

The Elizabeth Smart situation is just sad. I completely agree that if a 14-year-old has to say something to the effect of I don't want to talk about it... leave her alone. Be the adult in the situation.

 

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