It started within hours of Larry Flynt's indictment on obscenity charges.
A clip on CNN. Radio broadcasts around the country. National news stories. A mention in a German newspaper.
All references carried the same theme: Cincinnati, with its reputation for dragging anything remotely offensive into court, is at it again, this time going after the same person whose 1977 case anointed Cincinnati as the capital of intolerance.
Some are welcoming the attention, saying it proves once again that Hamilton County is at the forefront when it comes to community values. But the publicity is making others shudder.
"I don't think that this whole episode will make our star shine," said Judith Trent, a political communications researcher at the University of Cincinnati. "I don't think it's a positive thing to have this kind of publicity."
She did say, though, that some could regard the indictment of Mr. Flynt on obscenity charges as a good thing.
"There are people who believe (officials) are doing what a city should: acting responsibly, authoritatively," she said. "I just don't think it's the kind of national publicity that we should have."
Dan Lincoln, vice president of tourism for the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, is not sure the case -- and the accompanying attention -- is a negative.
"I don't know that it's necessarily a bad thing," he said. "I think some people will cheer it. Others won't. So I think it's a wash. Is it going to keep somebody from having a vacation here or spending a weekend here? I don't think it will have an effect, at least not in large numbers."
The attention isn't likely to subside anytime soon. Following a national appearance on CNN's Burden of Proof on Tuesday, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters will be on Court TV today. And national television shows continue to request interviews from Mr. Deters and Mr. Flynt.
All want to talk about the 15 obscenity-related charges that were lodged against Mr. Flynt on Tuesday by a Hamilton County grand jury. The case, which heads to court April 21 for arraignment, is Mr. Flynt's second legal battle in Hamilton County. In 1977, he was found guilty of obscenity charges, but the conviction was thrown out and the case was never retried.
Mr. Deters is puzzled by some of the attention.
"They think this is Mapplethorpe," he said, referring to the failed 1990 prosecution of the Contemporary Arts Center for its showing of the homoerotic works of Robert Mapplethorpe.
"There's a lot of information out there that's just false," he said. "The national media, they believe that this is just a moral crusade. It is simply the enforcement of state law."
If Mr. Flynt has his way, it could turn into a referendum of sorts on the issue of obscenity.
"There hasn't been a major obscenity prosecution in this country in over 20 years," he said from his Beverly Hills, Calif., office. "And what this is going to do is create a debate that's going to be very good for the country."
He wants that debate to land before the U.S. Supreme Court, which he hopes would strip the ban on obscenity from the law books. Unlike most forms of expression, which are protected by the Constitution, obscenity is not legal.
"I think the U.S. Supreme Court may have to revisit its 1973 decision," he said Wednesday on CNN, referring to the case that established guidelines for defining obscenity.
