I have been looking around the web at blogs this weekend and came up with this question. What Polarizes Bloggers on High Profile Cases from Anna Nicole Smith to Haleigh Cummings and Caylee Anthony?

There seems to be few out there with an open mind to follow the legal paperwork, let Google be your friend and make up your own mind of what is the truth for you; or has that been done already?

Whether it is Anna Nicole Smith with the pro Howard K. Stern bloggers on TMZ.com or the Virgie Arthur bloggers on Topix.net, few seem to be open about either side. It has become a hate festival with each side bashing the other and when Court papers come out reading through them and declaring a victory for “their side”…

I have now went out and done the same with bloggers on Haleigh Cummings and Caylee Anthony and found them just as divided and polarized with few bloggers still open to facts. For instance in the Caylee Anthony investigation we now have the 5 inch piece of brown hair found that DNA cannot match it to Caylee Anthony, her mother Casey Anthony, the Anthony family and even the crime scene investigators. I would think this would cause many to back up and take a second look, who does that hair belong to? Added to that you have the FBI lab contaminating the duct tape so any evidence on that is now useless. However with all those new revelations in the past week has any blogger decided to back up and take a second look? If so I cannot find them. They spin it to their side and bash the other side or even those still open minded for being dumb or having an agenda.

Then you have Haleigh Cummings, a case that has been spun out of control by Infotainment “News” as the newest hot story. We see the same players, Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera and Nancy Grace, each competing for the “bombshell or exclusive only here”, but what they talk about is all over the news by the time they come on at night. So there is neither new evidence, an exclusive and/or a bombshell, only bottom line ratings. We are now seeing lawyers in that case, like the Casey Anthony case; beginning to remove themselves from these cases or have bar complaints and then the defense of the lawyers and not the case becomes the focal point.

In Anthony’s case it is Jose Baez for Casey Anthony being reported by the D. A. with what seems to be ongoing never ending complaints against Jose Baez. In the Cummings case we have a lawyer now saying that because in the beginning things were going so bad that, Kim Picazio the attorney for Haleigh’s mother, Crystal Sheffield, had a media consultant who assisted Crystal Sheffield and the legal team, lending their expertise and advice on the strategic placement and release of information to turn around the negative press Crystal Sheffield was receiving. Crystal Sheffield and Kim Picazio spent a great deal of time with their media consultant. “The release of information, or breaking news, in a high media case, must be preplanned, time-sensitive, and intentional,” said Ms. Picazio. Ms. Kim L. Picazio is out of the Haleigh Cummings case and has been cleared by the Florida State Bar of any wrongdoing.

We have seen a lot of that here at Rose Speaks.com in relations to all cases connected to Anna Nicole Smith and I still find it a phenomenal situation with the new instant news of celebrity or high profile cases on the internet.

In public filings by Ms. Picazio she gives her insight about the lawyer turned media spokesperson for a family member in one of these cases saying; “As the spokesperson for Crystal Sheffield, the release of positive information to the public, whether on the internet, or to other media sources, in furtherance her best interest or desired results. …

…The very nature of the role of a “media spokesperson” is different in kind than most other roles customarily served by an attorney. It requires the disclosure of information customarily thought of as “off limits” to the public and/or your opponents. This job requires more than showing up at media interviews. It requires complex strategy, intelligent calculation, finding and maintaining inside sources for information, and trusted contacts who can be your eyes and ears for the “feel” of the public. Damning information about a client that is swirled around the Internet will surely be aired in national headlines, and can devastate your client’s image, credibility, case or cause. Disclosures of information are aimed at directing, it was imperative that we kept key contacts in law enforcement, the community, the media, as well as on the internet, to properly counter many unflattering stories which could have destroyed Crystal’s credibility and chances of ever having custody of her children. Quite simply, guiding, directing and dodging the release of information from your client’s detractors, is an intensely calculated process in a high media case. The parties were involved in a high media tragedy, and “fault” and “blame” for the disappearance of Haleigh Cummings is still being discussed nationwide. Disclosures of this nature were done in the obvious effort to steer suspicions away from her as a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance, raise her public image, and gain an advantage in the very public custody issues that were being televised each day on the news.”

[These] “cases have created a nationwide obsession, and it continues to be a prime topic in local and national news, and internet crime news sites.”

Ms Picazio goes on to say; “The internet is essentially where a growing number of the general public gets their news every day. I received thousands of emails from the public commenting on the Crystal Sheffield/Haleigh Cummings matter, some of which even told me how to better put on my make-up. The public sent tips, leads, support, well-wishes and sometimes screaming insults, my way.”

Then Ms. Picazio addresses the new phenomena of internet bloggers saying; “… [That both Ms. Picazio and] Crystal Sheffield, have suffered libelous attacks on their reputations by internet bloggers, and avant guard journalists.” [You have to] “always attempt to protect your client from these types of self-serving intruders who would befriend the family, or members of the legal team, only to be secretly feeding a hidden agenda for fame, fortune, or the notoriety. From the inception of the Haleigh Cummings case, scheming bloggers have sought the coveted “inside scoop”, attempting to befriend family members, journalists, and law enforcement officers.”

[Lawyers now] “have to have sophisticated computer equipment installed, and often staff member will “catch” fishing expeditions from bloggers attempting to get an email back from the legal team/spokesperson. Emails are easily edited, and on many occasions, you will catch these schemes as they were being planned in chat rooms dedicated to the Haleigh case.”

… “Insidious bloggers can be devastating to a client in modern-day high media cases.”

Ms Picazio finishes her thoughts on bloggers by saying; “Often fanatical about missing children’s cases, bloggers spend countless hours “sleuthing” information about all people connected to the case, call and write to authorities with rumors for false tips, and try to become personally close with insiders or family members involved in the case. The most coveted information source for a blogger is to obtain insider information directly from a family member in a case. Unfortunately, the Crystal Sheffield/Haleigh Cummings matter is a prime example of the intrusion and disruption caused by modern-day, fanatical bloggers, who go to great lengths for an “inside scoop” in high media cases. The internet and manipulative bloggers was, and remains, a hurdle to contend with in the Haleigh Cummings case by all involved. There have been countless news articles on the subject of the internet frenzy that plagues the Haleigh case and investigators. The Haleigh Cummings case is the most active criminal investigation blogged about on the internet to date, other than the Caylee Anthony matter. Although I was surely not obsessed with blogging, the internet frenzy was a very real fact and hazard that existed in the case.”

I found Ms. Picazio thoughts expressed to the Florida State Bar something to ponder. Is this the new typical “blogger”? As you know we have had bloggers cross state lines to take pictures of our home just because. We have read where bloggers where doing screen shots or even sending things from Rose Speaks.com to lawyers in the Anna Nicole Smith cases only to find out later from the lawyers, they would never use something obtained in that way. So are bloggers the next step in reporting news or are bloggers angry people who take out that anger towards the world behind the safety of a computer screen in these high profile cases? Do we all need to “own our words”?

NEWEST PAPERS FILED IN CASES WE ARE FOLLOWING:

April 26, 2010 Notice of Hearing for the Motion for Continuance set in Harris County for May 7, 2010 at 11:30 A. M.

April 26, 2010 Art Harris Supplement Motion for Protective Order.

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©Rose Turner
April 26, 2010
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