Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Natalie Holloway Saga Caught Aruban Officials Off Guard
It seems folks in Aruba aren't used to BIG media attention in any case. In an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. says, "They are the "Not ready for prime time island." The article continues, Felling, and other media watchdogs, say Aruba is a victim of a network fascination with missing white women as ideal fodder for 24-hour cable TV.
"The networks realized that there is nothing more durable than the damsel-in-distress," he said, reciting a growing list of cases, going back to Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart and Laci Peterson.
At first, Aruban authorities handled the Holloway case as they would any other.
Like most European-based police and judicial systems, little public information was released. That smacked of a coverup in the minds of the U.S. media, which is used to a steady diet of tips from police and judicial sources.
The government tried to counter that by staging a handful of press conferences. They explained Aruba's discreet judicial system. They explained that 20 percent of the 500-man police force was working the case. Behind the scenes, FBI and Dutch authorities were also involved, they said. MORE
"The networks realized that there is nothing more durable than the damsel-in-distress," he said, reciting a growing list of cases, going back to Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart and Laci Peterson.
At first, Aruban authorities handled the Holloway case as they would any other.
Like most European-based police and judicial systems, little public information was released. That smacked of a coverup in the minds of the U.S. media, which is used to a steady diet of tips from police and judicial sources.
The government tried to counter that by staging a handful of press conferences. They explained Aruba's discreet judicial system. They explained that 20 percent of the 500-man police force was working the case. Behind the scenes, FBI and Dutch authorities were also involved, they said. MORE
# posted by ATN @ 7:27 AM 
