What's the biggest outrage here?

What's the biggest outrage here?

posted by halboedeker on Oct 19, 2009 5:55:13 PM

WFTV-Channel 9 led its 5 p.m. news with the George and Cindy Anthony's Caribbean cruise.

"The vacation was from you guys," Cindy said after leaving her cruise ship. Cindy said they had a nice time, but she also snapped at WFTV, "Thanks for ruining our trip." That Cindy -- she's so inconsistent.

Then ABC affiliate WFTV explored what that cruise might mean to the case of Casey Anthony, their daughter. She is charged with the first-degree murder of her daughter, Caylee.

WFTV's anchors noted that the Anthonys had received $20,000 from CBS. That network's "48 Hours Mystery" on Saturday aired an hour on the case.WFTV's Kathi Belich had an intriguing way of recapping details in the headline-making case. "In December, the Anthonys were dining on crab puffs at the Ritz-Carlton on the tab of one major network, while investigators were here in the woods, right around the corner from their house, in the rain and mud, searching for Caylee's remains," Belich said.

That "major network" is the one WFTV is affiliated with: Disney-owned ABC. Why not just state the facts?

Belich highlighted that the Anthonys were on "a tropical island cruise" while "48 Hours Mystery" aired. The WFTV reporter noted that George has told prosecutors that no one will hire either him or Cindy.

Cindy said they accepted $20,000 from CBS. The network said it paid to license photographs and footage; CBS maintains it doesn't pay for interviews.In the past, the couple's attorney, Brad Conway, has said they are looking for mystery baby-sitter Zenaida Gonzalez in Puerto Rico. But the Anthonys' cruise took them only as far as Nassau, Belich said.

Legal analyst Doug Dorner told Belich that the cruise could hurt the couple's credibility in defending their daughter.

"It raises the question as to why are the parents not in Puerto Rico or spending that money on investigations to further the research into finding Zenaida Gonzalez?" Dorner said.

Conway told WFTV that the Anthonys deserved the break. Conway collected $3,000 from the CBS deal.

The biggest outrage here, though, isn't that the Anthonys went on a cruise.

Or that the Anthonys had a swank meal at a terrible time.

It's that networks keep paying these licensing fees, which they describe as a standard industry practice. The networks say they're not paying for interviews, but their subjects are pocketing money. The business deal taints the journalism.

And, of course, George and Cindy are merely a sideshow here. The big news is the licensing fee that ABC's "20/20" paid for Caylee footage and photographs.

That figure has been put at $200,000 to $225,000. Anthony attorney Jose Baez has acknowledged selling such items, but he hasn't said to whom or how much.

The networks should not be paying these fees. The practice may be standard, but the standard stinks.

Poor Caylee. She had it rough in life. And now the media whores are showing her no respect in death.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2009/10/casey-anthony-whats-the-biggest-outrage-here.html

Here's pics of GA and CA on the cruise...GA has an earring in, CA in a bikini?????

http://www.wftv.com/slideshow/news/21353061/detail.html