career benchmarks

All kinds of journalists highlight reporting on JonBenet's unsolved crime as a notable event in their career history. In this case, attorney and award winning TV reporter-correspondent Erin Moriarty lists covering Princess Diana's death then JonBenet's murder investigation as the lead items in her bio as a guest judge slot at today's benefit for the popular New York Theatre Experiment--

Bday Bash For NY Theatre Experiment Held 7/18
by BWW News Desk

"New York Theatre Experiment is turning 5 and you're invited to the best birthday party of the year...

Guest Judges...


ERIN MORIARTY

Erin Moriarty has been a correspondent for 48 Hours since 1990. She has covered the death of Princess Diana, the JonBenet Ramsey investigation, the murder of financier Edmund Safra, and the war in Iraq. Before that, Moriarty was the consumer correspondent for CBS This Morning 1986-90 and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in 1990.

Drawing on her training as an attorney, Moriarty has examined some of the most important social and legal issues of the day, including DNA testing of evidence in death-row cases, the abortion controversy and battered women's syndrome. She covered the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School shootings and the 9/11 investigation, overseas. Her exclusive behind-the-scenes report on the defense of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was broadcast on 60 Minutes in 1997.

Moriarty has received numerous honors, including nine national Emmy Awards, a 2001 Overseas Press Club Award for her work on 48 Hours and two Association of Women in Radio and Television Gracie Allen Awards for the weekly talk show that she co-hosted with Nancy Giles on WPHT Radio in Philadelphia (2003-04). In both 2000 and 2003, she was honored with the Top 100 Award from Irish America magazine. In 1988, Moriarty received the Outstanding Consumer Media Service Award presented by the Consumer Federation of America for "her many contributions of both local and national significance as a consumer reporter."

Prior to joining CBS News in 1986, she was an award winning consumer reporter for the NBC Owned and Operated WMAQ-TV Chicago (1983 86). She was also a reporter in Columbus (Ohio) at the NBC affiliate WCMH-TV (1979-80), Baltimore at the CBS affiliate WJZ-TV (1980-82) and Cleveland at CBS affiliate WJKW-TV (1982-83).

Moriarty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Columbus, Ohio. She was graduated from Ohio State University, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in behavioral sciences and received a law degree from the university in 1977. Moriarty is licensed to practice law in Ohio and Maryland."

third tier saga

Combined with stats on viewers interested in Michael Jacksons death compared to the likes of Princess Diana or Pope John Paul II, the AJR editor writes about media transformation and coverage of high profile cases. He goes on to rank JonBenet, Laci Peterson as second or third tier sagas while referring to Natalee Holloway as "the missing blonde girl". Now it's a given these three girls became famous as a result of their respective tragedies, but was it really necessay to illude to Natalee like that?--

The Michael Jackson Explosion
By Rem Rieder (rrieder@ajr.umd.edu) is AJR's editor and publisher.
7/10/09

"Has the death of Michael Jackson been seriously overcovered? Of course. But I'm having trouble working up much outrage over it...

The problem with the cable channels is that they ALWAYS have to have a top-of-the-charts story. That leads to the ridiculous excesses on famous-for-being-famous people like Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton, on second- or third-tier sagas like Laci Peterson and JonBenet Ramsay and the missing blonde in Aruba...

31.1 million tuned in to 19 TV networks, according to Nielsen, more than three times more than watched Pope John Paul II's funeral and nearly as many as watched Princess Diana's. Many millions more watched online – global Internet traffic jumped by a third during the service. A figure with that kind of impact deserves a lot of attention, whatever you thought of him.

The news media, as you might have noticed, have no shortage of problems as they struggle to survive in a wrenching era of transformation. Saturation coverage of Michael Jackson's death isn't very high on the list."

About the American Journalism Review (AJR)

"American Journalism Review is a national magazine that covers all aspects of print, television, radio and online media. The magazine, which is published six times a year, examines how the media cover specific stories and broader coverage trends. AJR analyzes ethical dilemmas in the field and monitors the impact of technology on how journalism is practiced and on the final product. The magazine is published by the University of Maryland Foundation with offices in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland..."