Posted on 08/10/2005 1:41:11 AM PDT by Lori675
Bringing a microphone and camera crew to the gates of an Aruba landfill this past week, Greta Van Susteren returned to the island that her nightly Fox News Channel program has figuratively called home recently.
Van Susteren's "On the Record" has relentlessly followed the mysterious disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama while on a graduation trip to Aruba in May.
Critics find it an obsession bordering on the bizarre, twisting traditional notions of news judgment and becoming Exhibit A in the media's fascination with missing people - as long as they happen to be young, white, female and pretty.
But while doing this, Van Susteren has been rewarded with her biggest audiences since making the switch from CNN three years ago.
She averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers a night in July, up 58 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN's Aaron Brown used to put up a tough fight in the time slot; now Van Susteren routinely triples his audience. She narrowly missed 3 million on July 26, her biggest audience this year.
"On the Record" even topped Fox's prime-time king "The O'Reilly Factor" eight times, although Bill O'Reilly was off on four of those nights.
"I'm always happy when the viewers are happy," Van Susteren said. "I obviously don't program for the people in the newsroom or my friends or the people I went to law school with. I program for the viewers."
It's not just Nielsen that confirms interest in the Holloway story. Van Susteren said she spends an hour or two a day combing through e-mails from viewers on the case, and they often supply her with good questions.
The mystery plays to her strengths as a lawyer.
"For me, it's sort of an intellectual challenge," she said. "Where is she? How did she disappear? Did somebody drop a date rape drug in her drink? Did she walk off? Is this not really a homicide but a missing person? ... I could go on. These are fascinating to me and they're obviously fascinating to the viewers."
Desperate to learn what happened to Natalee, the Holloway family has been grateful for the interest and available to help fill hours of airtime.
"Greta has gone above and beyond to publicize this case and keep people interested," said Paul Reynolds, Natalee's uncle.
The Aruban government hasn't been happy with all the coverage, believing much of it makes the authorities look amateurish and unprofessional, but Van Susteren has government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg's respect.
"Even though she is aggressive, she will try to get both sides of a story," he said.
The case has all the elements of a classic summer page-turner: the bright-eyed girl whose search for fun may have gone horribly wrong, a privileged Dutch boy who saw her before she disappeared but claims innocence, authorities following several hot and cold leads.
Without being a regular, tuning into Van Susteren's show many nights is like opening up a mystery novel in the middle.
It's all a little baffling to those who didn't buy the book.
"I think she's registered to vote in Aruba now," joked NBC News reporter Josh Mankiewicz, who narrated a "Dateline NBC" report examining why television networks pay an inordinate amount of attention to missing white women.
With war and terrorism in the news, critics wonder how one missing person case can so dominate a news program. Even on the night President Bush nominated John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, "On the Record" spent far more time on Holloway.
Josh Mankiewicz is a Dateline NBC correspondent based in Los Angeles. He began reporting for Dateline NBC in February 1995.
Mankiewicz has also done profiles of Janet Jackson, Kim Cattrall, Michael Flatley and Haley Joel Osment.
Mankiewicz graduated with honors from Haverford College with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology.
there is a message in all of this :
World , don't mess with our young ones !
If you do , we will be on your case FOREVER !
good.....
Pretty much agree.
Her increased ratings says something not so fine about America.
Rich white & pretty: Guaranteed to bring in all the idiot female viewers who made Laci Peterson a household name.
"I'm rich, white, and pretty. Why isn't that working for me ?"
Leni
We appreciate what Greta is doing.
Thats funny
"I'm rich, white, and pretty. Why isn't that working for me ?"
Unfortunately, for us, Crissy.....you aren't missing.....yet.
Short of vanishing in a puff of smoke, having a show on MSNBC is as close to "missing" as it gets.
I am tired of Natalee. And the "crime of the month" newscasting gets tired, also. Not my cup of tea.
But I must admit Greta is shining. When I listen to her question people, I am impressed by her logical applications and the way she digs out information. Plus she seems truly compassionate with the desire to help Natalee's family find some kind of justice.
Matthews also looks and acts like a women.
And it's just a Cuban crime of passion
Messy and old fashioned
Yeah, that's what the papers did say
It's just a Cuban crime of passion
Anjejo and knives a slashin'
Yeah but that's what the people like to read about
Up in America, up in America
Jimmy Buffett song, 1973.
It's the mystery -- that's the hook. Mysteries continue to sell in good times and bad, no matter what. Something about human curiosity.
LOL! Excellently applied!
But, I guess this little soap opera in Aruba is working for Greta now that Michael Jackasson is over.
I think it's abysmal that all that FoxNews network time is spent on that one unhappy Aruban matter.
Take care.
bts
I always think of that song when these Laci Peterson type stories take over the news. I don't follow the crime stories. I don't really relate to it, but hey, different strokes I guess. I don't relate to watching cars make 800 left turns for 4 hours either, but millions of people love that. Hell, the more of em like that stuff, the less crowded it'll be wherever I'm going.
Michelle Malkin should place a pie in Matthews' pudgy, angry, thin-lipped face.
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