Tuesday, November 09, 1999
'Dateline' rehashes old news again
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dateline NBC has done it again — taken an old crime and presented it as if it were new, just to hype “sweeps” ratings.
Dateline (10 p.m. today, Channels 5, 22) “takes us inside the courtroom” for the trial of Della Sutorius — 31/2 years after she was convicted of murdering her husband, Dr. Darryl Sutorius.
This is news?
No, it's proof that news magazines have run out of new stories.
It's also evidence of how news magazines dredge up years-old court cases, retold with melodramatic flair, real touchy-feely stuff, to sucker viewers into watching, particularly during sweeps month.
• In May, Dateline rehashed Tracie Alfieri's deadly “road rage” auto accident on I-71 near Red Bank Road, 21/2 years after the November 1996 crash.
The Mount Washington resident was convicted in 1997 of aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault for braking and swerving on I-71, forcing motorist Rene Andrews off the road and into a parked truck. Ms. Andrews' unborn child died because of the accident.
• In March, Dateline devoted an hour to Vincent Doan's murder conviction for the 1996 death of Blanchester resident Carrie Culberson.
• Now comes another one-hour “exclusive” report from NBC's deal with Court TV. (I guess NBC figures nobody watched Court TV's Black Widow special 18 months ago, in March 1998.)
Ms. Sutorius, 49, was convicted of aggravated murder on June 7, 1996, four months after shooting her husband in their Symmes Township home. She had placed the gun near his body on Feb. 18, and claimed it was suicide.
So what's new? Nothing.
But Court TV has video from the three-week trial, which aired on the cable channel and low-power WBQC-TV (Channel 25) here. And Dateline producers are masters at creating a soap opera from courtroom testimony, and masking the date of the crime.
Here's the NBC synopsis: “A prominent Cincinnati surgeon with a history of depression and suicidal thoughts is found shot to death in the basement of his home. Was it suicide or was he murdered by his new wife — a woman he'd just discovered had a secret past? Correspondent Dennis Murphy takes us inside the courtroom in a Dateline/Court TV exclusive.”
NBC News, an organization purportedly dedicated to truth, won't make it obvious to viewers that these “questions” were answered 31/2 years ago.
It took less than a day for a Hamilton County jury to convict Ms. Sutorius, who was sentenced to 241/2 years in jail.
“You will receive your just due: Life imprisonment for the coldly calculated murder of your spouse,” ruled Judge Richard Niehaus of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. “You, with your lifelong history of aberrant behavior, are probably, at least in my opinion, beyond any hope of rehabilitation.”
Nothing is new, and Dateline NBC and the other news magazines rehashing stories should make that clear. Every time they play old courtroom video, they should put the date on the screen.
TV news operations go overboard telling viewers they're doing live reports or breaking news. They plaster the word “LIVE” all over the screen.
So why not constantly put the date on the screen when trying to manipulate us into watching an old story? Telling us something is old is as much of a public service as telling us something is new or “live.”
Demand NEWS from news maga zines. Or don't watch. This silliness only ends when their ratings go down.
SEINFELD ALERT: Seinfeld fans are in for a great week on Channel 64 (7:30 p.m.), starting today with the episode in which Jerry and George (Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander) are reported to be gay lovers, not that there's anything wrong with that.
The ugly baby airs Wednesday, followed by Elaine deciding if her new boyfriend is “spongeworthy” (Thursday) and the “Yadda-Yadda” show on (Friday).
The masturbation contest episode will not air during November because of the reference to John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in July.
VCR ALERT: Catch a couple of former Tristate residents — George Clooney and Sarah Jessica Parker — when WBQC-TV (Channel 25) repeats an old Facts of Life (1 p.m.) and Square Pegs (1:30 p.m.) today.
AROUND THE DIAL: Charlie Rose spends a day with Bill Gates on 60 Minutes II (9 p.m., Channels 12, 7).
The Real World stay in Hawaii ends with a one-hour show (10 p.m., MTV).
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'Dateline' rehashes old news again
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