Justice Lampooned -- Media Covers the Shafia Sentencing -- America Shames Canada and Britain

Justice Lampooned  --  Media Covers the Shafia Sentencing  -- America Shames Canada and Britain

First up, the always bemused and inarticulate Andrew whatshishead on CBCNN, utterly out of his depth and dismayingly inarticulate.  He was joined by a greasy-headed kid named D’Souza, who embarrassed second-year journalism students everywhere with his lack of command of any language.

Over on CTV, a brilliantined blonde woman, quite perplexed, at last got on to Genevieve Beauchemin, who was hyperventilating so much that her family may be wondering even now if she has been able to get to sleep, or is alive.  Alas, no commentator on either network was able to provide sustained, sober, or knowledgeable reflection on what had transpired.  Why?  The trial had only gone on for months.  Both CBC and CTV appeared to have had to find ties for rushed-in bald lawyers.  Good thing no-one takes any of this seriously.

The CBC, above all, has been interested in the possibility that “others” have been interested in this trial.  Well, let’s have a look.

Britain’s _The Guardian_ emphasizes its basic Murdoch approach, misquoting the judge, highlighting evanescent sideshows, and generally observing the British taste for the Sunshine girls n’sleaze.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/30/honour-killings-jury-afghan-family

Huffington post, unsurprisingly, goes for “coverage” that can’t even be called that, so there’s no point in linking to it.  I’m not sure if Arianna had a thong on, but if it got her clicks, its hot chicks, and it’s Guardian sleaze all the way.

Notably, CNN—and lord knows the Americans are good at trials and killings—provided the most concise and informative piece on the matter.  CNN, notably, was the *ONLY NETWORK* that even attempted to observe and contextualize the death of Rona Amir Mohammad, second infertile wife of killer Shafia; Canada’s CBC, and other networks, dismissed the death of an ‘old lady’ as merely collateral damage, uninteresting beyond the teen attractions the trial had so far provided.  As veteran CBC reporter Terry Milewski noted: “        .”  Wendy Mesley observed: “            , Terry.”

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/americas/canada-honor-murder/?hpt=wo_c2

Mock news organization Aljazeera offered: Afghan immigrant accused of killing former wife and three daughters tells court he was a caring father.

Horrible to think that in this case Canadians have to go to Americans to get decent reporting, but such is as it is.

zr

Postscript: A couple days after this post, the Globe ran a story about Rona Amir Mohammad, under the byline "Timothy Appleby."  It wasn't very informative, and I think indicated that there was information about her that could not be released during trial proceedings.  Funny thing about trial proceedings, though, is that one can often release an awful, awful lot of material, even under a ban, if one wants to.