Base10 wasn't going to participate in the media feeding frenzy going on in the Imette St. Guillen murder case going on here in Gotham. The victim did, after all, go to the school where Base10 teaches. This case is a good example of the media showing its true colors. Nothing shows the so-called news business to be about bottom-line money-grubbing headlines more than a salacious murder case. Base10 has a couple of observations.

First, as much as I hate to say this, is St. Guillen were not as pretty as she was, this case would not be getting anywhere near the media attention it's getting now. Newspapers don't care so much when ugly people get killed.

Second, why was there an initial obsession with the possibility of a serial killer? When did newspapers become so concerned with public safety. Is the media trying to instill a "Summer of Fear" mentality in the public consciousness merely to sell papers?

Third, in the great scheme of things, this story does not warrant the saturation coverage it's getting. Base10 was watching the morning news before he left for work and the amoiunt of time spent on this murder bordered on the obsessive. Terrorists are running Palestine, Iraq is on the verge of a breakthrough (or breakdown, depending on your perspective) and Iran is about to get a nuclear weapon. Keep this story in perspective.

Right now the police are focussed on the bouncer at the last place where St. Guillen went the night she was killed. Here's the latest from NY1.

- posted by Base10 @ 4:50 PM