Dr. Conrad Murray Found Guilty of Michael Jacskson's Death....

Television news networks plunged into coverage of the Dr. Conrad Murray verdict Monday afternoon, with high hopes of scoring an O.J.-esque moment.

They were counting on a blast of national adrenaline as the steady hand of justice meted out responsibility in Jackson's seemingly avoidable 2009 death.

What they got was closer to the infamous TV evening when Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone's vault and found nothing.

CNN, Fox News, Headline News and MSNBC all spent at least an hour outside the courtroom before the verdict was read, convicting Murray of involuntary manslaughter in the King of Pop's death.

But if network honchos were hoping for a powerful, ratings-boosting crescendo, that would have meant first waking most viewers up. By the time the verdict was finally read, about 20 minutes later than originally promised, the reporters and analysts were deep into reruns.

Sheppard Smith of Fox News kept bringing up the O.J. Simpson case, less because of legal similarities than his clear hope that some of the O.J. magic — meaning all-consuming national fascination with what was about to happen — would somehow return to the same courthouse.

Smith also admitted, however, that this case involved "a much smaller scale" of interest, particularly outside of the immediate families and the City of Angels.

This was too bad for L.A., it should be noted, because that town really knows how to throw a trial and a verdict. Whether the court system has gone to school on nearby Hollywood or not, L.A. promotes major trials the way "American Idol" promotes a results show.

The only trouble is that the greatest promotion in the world still requires content, and the cable news networks were reduced to not much more than vamping.

MSNBC had Martin Bashir talking about how artificial insemination statutes are different in Britain. Jane Velez Mitchell of Headline News was saying this verdict would make history, and wasn't it interesting that Michael Jackson once made an album called "HIStory."

Dr. Drew Pinsky on CNN was concerned that Murray was practicing medicine outside his specialty — a subject covered only about 10,000 times during the trial.

Significantly, the broadcast networks and channels all waited until the verdict was announced to cut into their regular programming. They were in and out in less time than it used to take Jackson to moonwalk across a stage.

That approach seemed about commensurate with public interest, which in turn suggests it wasn't really the cable news networks' fault that they were talking with great animation to a relatively modest core of viewers.

While Jackson had tens of millions of fans, and there were certainly strong opinions about Murray's actions the night of the singer's death, the case sparked nothing like the intense, visceral feelings many Americans had on, say, the O.J. case.

The cable news networks were there because that's what they do. But when Murray was convicted, there was more a sense of sadness than any swift show of justice — and sadness doesn't make for great television.

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Entertainment

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• conrad
• murray
• Death Of Michael Jackson
• michael
• jackson
• guilty
• illuminati
• satanism
• new
• world
• order
• trial

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