As I sat and listened to the interview last night that was sent to me from Don Clark’s, Tuesday April 8 Scared Monkeys Internet Radio, I found Mr. Clark’s words did hold some things I hope we can all agree about.
Dana Pretzer, the interviewer, mentioned that the focus had left Daniel Smith and Anna Nicole Smith and had focused instead on Howard K. Stern, and whether he did something wrong. I was amazed that Dana, said he felt like this was unfair and due to media coverage.
Don Clark also made some thought provoking statements. Don Clark mentions a “she” that was responsible for the drugs and the doses of medicine taken and that person was not there to testify. Don Clark never mentions whom the “she” was leaving us to ponder if that was a nurse, one of the nannies, who never met Daniel, or a doctor. He mentioned that the person had been on the list to testify so that leaves me wondering if perhaps it was a “he” as in Dr. Kapoor, however without a name we will never know who Don Clark was referring to. Mr. Clark did point the finger at Howard Stern, saying that he [Don Clark] is not going to pull any punches and pointing to Howard Stern and that his testimony changed from Florida to the Bahamas police statements to what he testified to at the Inquest and the jurors at the Inquest was not allowed to see the inconsistencies.
Dana Pretzer brings the interview back to the media coverage including Entertainment Tonight, all of the news shows, even including Dana’s internet radio show, TMZ.com. Dana goes on to say “All you see is these young star and starlets and they are in so much trouble because of substance abuse problems either prescription or otherwise”. Mr. Pretzer says that people are making money off of this story but Mr. Pretzer chooses not to say who he thinks is making money, preferring to keep that to himself and focusing instead on that “two people are dead and a young child without a mother”.
Dana Pretzer ends with a question that I think is beneficial to all of us; “What has today’s society done to contribute to this whole tragedy that we keep talking about here”?
Don Clark’s answers with; “…It is all about the money, and unfortunately that is what it seems to be. It is about whatever that a particular entity can get on film; or get on camera; and be able to display and show; and unfortunately for the viewing public is that they only get. …sound bites of what somebody else has decided that they need to see or hear and they judge and make their opinions based on that. … I have seen this in this case repeatedly, ah people make their decisions …on people, their personalities, their character, whether they are good or bad on a particular sound bite that they see or a particular photograph or video they see in one particular place. And that is unfair ah for the system…”
Don Clark goes on to say we have the best system in the world and it is important in sitting a jury that we weed out the people he just described.
Don Clark continued with; “…This case, in my life, I have never seen anything like this that moved to the scale it has and seems like certain outlooks or certain people have different views on different things and they only paint those and paint the other party in the absolute worse light and sometimes whether it is true or not”.
They go on to finish the interview about the thoughts of Don Clark on the cases involving both Daniel and Anna Nicole Smith and I recommend you all go to Scared Monkeys radio and listen to the full interview. Mr. Clark advocates that there is still an opportunity for further investigations as to what happened to Anna Nicole Smith and so I think each of you will come away with something from listening to the whole interview.
Dana Pretzer finishes with his own thoughts about “movies, books and litigation that will go on for years and years until the next star or starlet unfortunately will come to their demise in some sort of sad, depressing, questionable way.” Then Dana finishes with a question of “What can we in the media do Don, to be fair in something like this…?”
Don Clark says; “People want to surmise and come to their own conclusion as to what their thoughts are. And I think that they really want to be smart about these things”. Mr. Clark recommends to just “…Try to follow the facts instead of putting a (in audible) a different twist onto it on whatever direction you want it to go. Let the facts lead you to whatever the end may be. …get away from that and start putting your own analysis of it, and let’s face it many of our media people are well liked in the public and if it is said by some of our media people, it is gospel.” He goes on to say, “the media system needs to stick to the facts and circumstances and not be so selective as to what pieces of sound bites and that is what it is about and most (inaudible) a sound bite…”
Don Clark ends with a lesson for all of us, “Just be more responsible about what they [the media] say and what they say about people that someone might have casually said to them and they don’t even know this person…”
Dana Pretzer ends with, “In this situation that has happened to all of the different people”.
So now my editorial opinion here:
I agree with a lot of what this interview says. I wish none of these people involved had become a household name for me. Not following Anna Nicole Smith in life, I had never heard of most of these people until the trial for possession and burial of Anna Nicole Smith began in February 2007 in a Florida Probate Court. I can see where Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead might be household names because they both were what we refer to as “red carpet walkers having their pictures made at events”, thus they both became very public figures by choice.
I wish that Virgie Arthur, Howard K. Stern, Dannielynn, John O’Quinn, Lin Wood, Ron Rale, Krista Barth, G. Ben Thompson, Ford and Gina Shelley, Big Moe and Taz, the Stern family etc. had never become household words to me. I must admit that when I read on another blog about Lin Wood coming on board as one of Howard K. Stern’s lawyers I had no idea who he was, as I did not know whom John O’Quinn was. I had to, as I advocate, let google be my friend and do some internet research to see who even those two lawyers were.
I can also agree with Don Clark about the media and the need for more responsibility in the future and not to base all things on a sound bite, it is way too easy to do that and not think for our selves, but let the talking heads feed us those sensationalism sound bites.
That is the reason that Rose Speaks houses ALL the court papers on all trials we follow so that each of our readers can download the documents, do their on research and reach their own truth.
I don’t’ think at this stage of this sad saga that the two polarized viewpoints is ever going to change. It is going to remain divided between those who think Howard K. Stern killed two people and those who do not.
However, I have something else to offer to you all to think about in all of this that is not going to make many of you happy. I think that NO ONE in this whole saga walks on water or has the absolute truth. In fact, there are no winners in this to me, only lives being destroyed some due to this being thrust into each of our living rooms by infotainment masking as news from last February to the present; and some because they are only observers in this. If there is any one innocent person in all of this it is Dannielynn, and sadly, it appears with time and the internet her innocence might be lost at all too young of an age.
That being said I also believe this is about money and power, between Lin Wood and John O’Quinn and the rest of us are observing two titans at war as I have said before. One will come out as attorney of the decade the other will not. Thus, my fascination in loving legal papers will keep me covering all of these different trials to the conclusions of each.
©Rose Turner
April 10, 2008
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