text:
Results 1 to 3 of 3
July 3, 2014, 5:35 am, Thu Jul 3 5:35:39 UTC 2014 #1
Newseum Ramsey Interview (J and P interview transcripts from Journalism Class visit)
Dunvegan transcribed from tape, the interview of John and Patsy Ramsey by the Journalism Class at Patsy's Alma Mater, and somehow they didn't make it to our library of transcripts...shame on us, because over and over it is so "Ramseyish"...they cannot open their mouths anywhere and speak without tipping their hand at their own guilt.
It brings new meaning to OJ's "IF I DID IT" to hear Patsy's "EVEN IF WE ARE GUILTY..."
From the Newseum interview "Inside Media: Coverage and Controversies with the Ramseys", of October 12th, 2000.
Transcribed by Dunvegan/2001
PART 1 of 3
The moderators: Blake Morrison and Eric Newton.
(Here was a short preamble...introducing the Ramseys to the audience.)
MODERATOR: John, why did decide to come and talk to the class today?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well...when something like this happens in your life, um...it causes you to really examine...uh, life. And, uh there's certainly a strong feeling on Patsy's and my part, that we want something good to come out of...this.
Um...JonBenet was a beautiful child, uh...we loved her dearly...and, there's certainly a side of us that is grateful that the country...uh, took note of that. There are 800 children murdered in this country every year. And, for some reason, uh...this caught the world's attention.
And, uh...we did a lot of thinking about...well...'cause we were litterally under siege. We'd been, you know: accused, tried, and convicted in the media, of murdering our daughter. And, uh...we really had two choices. One was to try to make a difference, we saw a lot of wrongs in our system...or, just...crawl in a hole and shut the world out.
Well, we decided, well...for JonBenet's sake, for the sake of our children, and their children, we gotta try to make a difference.
And, um...how do we make a difference? Um..and this was an opportunity to, we thought, to talk to young people who are gonna be in the profession; the media profession...um, let them understand from our perspective: on the receiving end...the good and the bad we saw. A lot of bad...but we did see some good.
Uh, so perhaps when they go out in the world, and um...and exercise their profession, they'll...um...have a little different perspective....perhaps a little more real perspective with what they're dealing with. Cause they're dealing with real people.
MODERATOR: Patsy: As a former journalism student, yourself, what should the students here look for...uh, today...that they might not be able to get just sitting in the classroom...listening to me talk?
PATSY RAMSEY: I would hope that they would come away with the understanding that...we are real people. You know, I think a lot of time when the news, um...coverage, you know, hits us everyday, and everyday, and everyday...it's always "the other guy"...you know: this is never going to happen to me...this is somebody far, far away. We've been fictionalized as people that we're not...so, I want them to understand that in the years to come, when you are reporting about individuals that they are people. They are human beings. They have feelings, they have, you know, rights to privacy...and just because you are a journalist, does not give you carte blanche to, you know, drag them through the mud, basically.
MODERATOR: Well, let's get our students down to the microphones...so that they can start asking their questions, and, while you're coming down, I've got another one for John.
You talk in your book about the, um..."sides of the media"...the good side, the bad side, and, clearly, you feel -
JOHN RAMSEY: - We've seen both -
MODERATOR: -You've spent a lot of side on the "bad side"-
JOHN RAMSEY: - We did -
MODERATOR: Well, what are some examples of things that happened to you something that happens to you when you are on the "good side", and something that happens when you are on the "bad side"?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well in our case we certainly felt, uh we were we were um devastated by the loss of our child. Uh and having gone through this twice, myself and Patsy (we lost our older daughter) uh, you pretty much just want to shut the world out yet, the world -through the media- was, uh intruding our space (Note: word here is slurred: could be "wildly" or could be "violence") wildly, from our perspective. And, um we just felt violated that we didn't want our picture taken, we didn't want that, uh you know, that attention.
And, um, in the beginning uh, I think we saw most of the "bad side" uh, we saw the tabloid uh, uh side of the media. The way the tabloid works is that they have uh, they put out a call for pictures, and a picture is very important to a tabloid then they can write a story around it.
So, if the picture is "unusual" they can make a very "unusual" story around it. And there's a lot of freelance photographers that that's how they make a living, they get a picture, and if it's a good one, they can sell it, make several thousand dollars, and they sell it to the tabloids.
We saw that side of the media; it's very intrusive. Uh, uh telephoto lenses aimed in our window, uh the gravesite uh JonBenet's gravesite uh, we found a hidden camera there eventually, after we saw the picture of my older son at the cemetery in one of the tabloid pictures, uh - newspapers.
And, a friend of ours, came up with an analogy that I thought was perfect: he said it was like you're the red fox, and you're being pursued by the dogs, in an English hunt and the dogs are the tabloid uh, media. And the more proper hunters, on the horseback, are the mainstream media.
And, while the tabloid media is churning up all the innuendos, and uh, the uh, accusations sadly, what's happened, to a large degree, is that the mainstream media is capitalizing on that, and uh, in some cases, reporting it as fact.
MODERATOR: So, working almost like a team, is what you're saying, rather than two different -
JOHN RAMSEY: - Yeah, yeah from our perspective, we felt like "the poor little fox ". We had to, uh had to plan where we, uh where we could find our points of refuge.
MODERATOR: Well, we'll get back to this but, let's see what our students have to ask today, and we'll go to them.
And, you can don't be shy come down and line up, so that we can go from one to the other. Uh you're on "Inside Media"; please tell us who you are, and ask your question.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #1: My name is Ryan (redacted), and I'm a student at the University of Maryland, and I'd just like to express gratitude again for giving us his experience: thanks a lot. And, my question would be this: you've already discussed the intrusiveness of the tabloids in their coverage but, which news organizations would you have found to be the most fair and professional, in their coverage of the investigation of your daughter's death?
JOHN RAMSEY: That's uh, a good question. Heh, heh uh I think they I can't point to one that I feel has been uh, completely uh, accurate and completely fair, and completely correct. I think they all erred uh, (sigh). The, uh you know, we developed a uh I'd call it a hatred for the media, based on our experience at the beginning. And we and as we overtime begin to meet, what I call the "legitimate journalists" and, uh people that are uh, at the top of the profession, we begin to realize, "Well, these people are decent people. They're smart, they're trying to do a good job. Um, and yet we've been so biased by the "dark side" of the media.
Uh, and so it was hard for us to sort out who's the good guy and who's the bad guy and a lot of we shut out a lot of it, because we just couldn't, uh couldn't deal with it. It was hurtful, it would make us angry when things were reported that weren't true um, and so, the solution for us was just to shut it out.
We took television out of our home a couple years ago uh, because we didn't want our son to, uh stumble across Geraldo trying us on television, or something like that and that was the only way we could be assured that uh that wouldn't happen. Uh, so we shut a lot of it out. To some degree, we don't know because we haven't we don't follow it. We don't, uh read all the stories.
But, uh (pause) the, um I've told by um, friends of ours who did follow it, um, that the Washington Post did a pretty good job of accuracy, and staying out of the mud. But that's second-hand information. Uh, 'cause I didn't I didn't follow it.
MODERATOR: Would you -
PATSY RAMSEY: -Follow up on that and, be sure to check it out cause you can't just take his words for it (!) (Laughter from audience, moderators, John.) That's the best ha, ha! -
MODERATOR: - Well, Patsy, can I ask you about that, because, in retrospect John's spoke about how you folks basically went into seclusion from the media, or tried to, as best you could. Do you think there's anything that either of you could have done differently that might have helped the media portray you in a more fair, accurate, complete way?
PATSY RAMSEY: You know, we had just lost our child we weren't concerned with helping portray anything. Um, I get criticized for not having we both do for not having "acted right." You know I (sigh) I spent weeks and weeks and weeks in bed. Immobile. You know: crying. So you know no, we weren't out there giving a response because we were, you know back there crying our eyes out. So, um I don't feel obligated, nor did I then, to have to provide information about you know to try to get people to to paint a picture of myself or something -
JOHN RAMSEY: - You know, people ask us: "Well, how could you how could you have stood all this attention and accusation in the press. And, what our response is -and, it's it's it's very genuine - you know uh, we lost our child. And, that was the worst thing that could happen to us. What followed was small by comparison. And, and for a long time, was was of no consequence to us. Uh you know, it was hurtful. Uh, but we'd been hurt deeper that anyone could hurt us again.
PATSY RAMSEY: What WAS bad was I mean, you had to to realize where we were coming from. We - there was a murderer in our home. Yeah this murderer is still at large. So when we would come um, back to our car, to a parking lot, and all of a sudden this you know this MAN(!) jumped out from between a car with something in his hand I don't know whether it's a journalist or a or a nut-case. Or, the murderer! I don't know if that's a camera, or a gun. I mean, it's frightening. You know, when when you KNOW that there is a a madman out there, and then JOURNALISTS, you know, for the sake of the public's right to know (exasperated gasp) PREY on you like this, it's it's it's inhumane.
MODERATOR: One of the things about, um well, "good journalism" I guess we can make a distinction is that in "good journalism" sometimes, uh often times, good reporting on a crime can help solve a crime. Uh -
PATSY RAMSEY: -That's right!-
JOHN RAMSEY: - You bet! In fact, the best investigative work in this case has been done by journalists.
PATSY RAMSEY: -Um hmm. Absolutely.
JOHN RAMSEY: We've got some incredibly good information from journalists, who, on their own, have dug into things that, uh have been very, very interesting .
MODERATOR: Another question from our students. Tell us who you are -
STUDENT QUESTIONER #2: Hi. Sean (redacted), from College Park. Thanks a lot for coming. Um my question is: over the course of this ordeal, the media kinda sized up your decision to hire separate legal counsel do you think that their interpretation played a role in -
JOHN RAMSEY: -Sure. It played a role i-i-i-i-i-in how people perceived us. It played a role in how the police perceived us. Let me correct one thing: we didn't make that decision. We were, uh basically immobile. I mean, Patsy and I were devastated. Uh a good friend of ours, who is an attorney, who'd been a former Prosecuting Attorney, uh took me aside and said, "John, would you allow me to do some things I think are necessary to do here?" And I said, "Yeah." Cause he was a trusted friend. Uh, he brought in attorneys on our behalf. And we said, "Hey, why do we need attorneys? B: Why do we need 2 attorneys?" And they said, "This is how we need to do it. And it's prudent." And I trusted him.
Uh, clearly it was the right thing to do um, unfortunately our justice system is flawed. In some cases, and is not, uh pure as we would hope it would be. And, um his position for us was: if you're dealing with a system that is not perfect you absolutely need to be represented. And, um I think it was absolutely the correct decision. It was an incorrect decision in terms of how the police and the public perceived us.
The police, automatically: "You get an attorney; you're guilty." That's how they look at it. And I think the public, to a large degree, does too. And, um y-y-you know, I've often thought: "Well, gee what if we hadn't what if we had just said 'No'?" You know, "We don't need attorneys why do we need attorneys?" Cause that was certainly the thought that was going through our mind. Um, what what difference would that have made? And, uh you know, we might have been in jail today I don't know. Uh, because the system, the justice system was out to get us. Clear and simple.
That, that became evident downstream as we begin to understand that uh, they really were focused on the family, because it's always the parents.
PATSY RAMSEY: I have a new appreciation for attorneys I don't tell those "lawyer jokes" anymore because they know so much about the justice system. Um I remember when it you know, rumors were flying all the time that I was going to be arrested and thrown in jail and I said: "LET THEM! Let them throw me in jail! I will be sittin' there, and that'll just give me more fuel for the furnace you know, when I'm throwin' out lawsuits, you know. And my attorney said, "You don't understand." He said, "Without exception, every one of my clients who has been put in a jail cell you know, months later another inmate will be put in the same jail cell you know chit-chatting whatnot a few minutes later, the inmate goes out and says, 'She confessed!'"
And, I was just I was just STUNNED! This can't be happening. In this country. And he said, "Believe me, it happens." He said, "If you, you know, are behind bars, you will not be alone for one second. They'll have somebody there, sitting with you, at all times " Because, he said, "It happens. It happens every time."
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah, our attorneys were very, very afraid of the justice system, 'cause they knew it was flawed. And, um that was a wake-up call for us, I think. And and and one of the things we wanna make a difference in, uh is that whole process.
I mean we've got inexperienced police, in general, and I mean this is not a categorical statement uh, who are too eager to make an arrest. We've got prosecutors who are paid to prosecute. And, we've got politicians who garner votes based on being "tough on crime." And, um, it's dangerous. It sounds good to us law-abiding citizens, but it's a dangerous uh, uh edge that we're kinda walking on. And I'm convinced that there are thousands of innocent people in jails today. Every day, when you pick up the paper .
But, that's what we were faced with. And, our friend who was experienced had been on the prosecuting side, and the defense side, saw it and we didn't. And that's how attorneys first got involved. But did they did that bias things? Absolutely.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #2: Great. Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: Jill?
STUDENT QUESTIONER #3: My name is Jill (redacted), I'm also a journalism student at the University of Maryland.
What did the media expose that you felt should have been kept private? And, what hasn't been told that you think should have been?
PATSY RAMSEY: Well, gosh you know (laughs) my mother always said, "Watch your reputation!" You know, "Don't go in that bar, don't do this don't do that " You know, "What - you gotta -Watch your reputation." I have thanked her about a gazillion times. Because they absolutely have you know SCOURED our backgrounds and they said, you know, we'd be perfect political candidates now because, you know, everything's out in the open. All the skeletons, all the -
JOHN RAMSEY: - lots of skeletons that weren't there -
PATSY RAMSEY: (Loudly) Hee-hee! Yeah! Right! But, just I mean they went back and found my High School English teacher! Uh old boyfriends you know, I'm embarrassed because those people were bothered because of me you know
JOHN RAMSEY: I think the big issue is, i-i-if we're looking at what, whatta we need to worry about as a society, is that was reflected on our case, is there's a there's a too much of a intermingling of the justice system and the media. Uh you know in some countries; England, for example most English-based-law countries, the things that went on in our case would have put journalists and police in jail. In England you're not allowed it's called oh, it's a Latin term, I forget it but you're not allowed to report on evidence and uh uh
PATSY RAMSEY: - in an ongoing case -
JOHN RAMSEY: - the process of an ongoing case, because it biases the case one way or the other. It's not true in our country and, in fact, it's gotten I my believe is that one of the things we need to look at as a society is that this is a problem. Where uh, a television program can try, as we were tried, on television it, uh it you gotta realize we've never, ever yet, heh (laugh) been named as a suspect. That's really the first step in in a in a process for the police they name you as a suspect. Then you're indicted, it takes a little bit of evidence to indict, it takes a ton of evidence to convict.
We've never even been named as a suspect in the media we've been tried, convicted charged, tried, convicted, and uh it's over. And, and that's a problem for our system, because the justice system can't work properly with that going on around it. A detective told me that an old, retired, very experienced detective he said the problem with this case was so much media attention, th-th-that the detectives weren't allowed to do their job. And they do their job kinda of in the background. They uh-h-h pick here they look here you know, it's a it's a complex thing to solve this kind of crime. Very complex. Takes a lot of gray matter. It takes a lot of time.
Well, when the media gets involved in demanding an answer for the 6 o'clock news, uh the Chief gets involved. And he micro-manages. Well, the Chief hasn't been in a crime investigation, maybe ever, as it was in the case in Boulder uh certainly for a long time, because he's been an administrator the Chief of Detectives gets involved. And, the poor detective, uh can't do his job.
So, that in the very beginning, with that kind of attention and pressure uh, the justice system, the investigative process, can't operate. Doesn't work. And, that's a problem.
And, uh it's a I'm not sure how you fix it. But you know, in terms so, there's issues of just the privacy of the investigation that needs to be somehow protected, so that the process can work. And, that may take years.
And, that's a flaw, and that's something that that to specifically address your question uh, should not have been exposed uh the police used the media they played the media like a fiddle in this case they leaked innuendos .
Their strategy basically was to put immense pressure on us so that we'd break. And in fact, they wanted to throw one of us in I guess both of us in jail. And they figured, well one of us would crack and turn on the other they weren't sure which one, but the two of us were in the house it had to be one or the other.
And, my fundamental criticism of the media, as I really analyze this from 30,000 feet, is that they uh, they took these leaks, and innuendos, and basically gossip as fact, and ran with it. And they ran with it world-wide. Rather than being skeptical of the police.
The police as a gov-, you know, the justice system is a government organization. And hence, should be looked at with some degree of skepticism, and, uh and, uh suspicion.
I mean that's that's to me...and I don't know if this is what you teach in school, but to me the and I've thought a lot about this, but the main responsibility of a free press in a democracy is to keep the government honest. And, uh we seem to not realize that the justice system is the government. I mean, we're seeing cases not with, you know Wen Ho Lee, and, you know, there's there's I'm sensitive to it because I look for it in the papers, and it's always there. Where, uh that role has been grossly overstepped. And, uh but, um the-the willingness to uh convict you know not only before trial, but before anyone's ever been charged, is a huge error that was illustrated in our case.
And that's a that's a violation not of our privacy well, it is, I guess in a lot of respects. Um because we were the victims. But, it destroys the system that we, that we put in place to deal with these kinds of things.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #3: For the second part of that question: was there anything that you feel should have been exposed, but wasn't should have been told, by the media, that wasn't?
JOHN RAMSEY: (To Patsy) Any thoughts?
PATSY RAMSEY: Well um, there again I think um, a lot of press has been guilty of just taking you know, by spoonfuls, information that the police department wanted them to have. So and, very little investigative reporting was done. I mean, just this summer, just in the past few weeks, we learned that there was another young girl assaulted, in her bed by a perpetrator who had been in the house for at least four hours this happened in
JOHN RAMSEY: September.
PATSY RAMSEY: September of 1997. And, the Special Prosecutor for the Grand Jury he did not know about this I mean, it was kept you know quiet! -
JOHN RAMSEY: - that was an example of good journalism, in my opinion! I mean and these the guys that dug this out, and ultimately reported on it, had been some of our harshest -
PATSY RAMSEY: - Journalists!
JOHN RAMSEY: - critics, but they were journalists and they, basically, uh called the police uh, on this, and said, "Wait a minute. This why haven't you looked at this?"
END OF PART ONEIt's probably too late to get justice for JonBenét. Maybe it always was. But knowing where things went wrong is the first step to not going there again. **-- Alan Prendergast-Dec 21, 2006--**
Bring all our Missing Home www.usearchut.org
Prayers for our military who are protecting our freedom.
July 3, 2014, 5:37 am, Thu Jul 3 5:37:28 UTC 2014 #2
Part 2 of 3
From the Newseum interview "Inside Media: Coverage and Controversies with the Ramseys", of October 12th, 2000.
Transcribed by Dunvegan/2001
PART 2 of 3
The moderators: Blake Morrison and Eric Newton.
M: So, it's a real it's a real conundrum -
J: - Yes!
M: - I mean uh, no coverage then doesn't protect our rights against the government uh, abuse but, too much coverage, you're saying, this kind of saturation: any detail, any gossip, any rumor also -
P: - gets in the way -
M: - creates a situation where our rights are, uh we've lost rights. And, so, we need reporting -
J: -Absolutely. That's that's the conclusion I've come to (Crosstalk between John and the moderator)
M: -but, where do you draw the line?
J: - and I've gone the full gamut of in the beginning I was you know, this system is terrible. We need the government to take it over, and by God, that's the answer. And then, of course then you realize - whoa-whoa - that's a bad idea!
Uh we need a democracy needs freedom of the press. It and I think Plato said that a long time ago. But, it's got to uh, it's very biased with with, as Patsy said, adjectives um, um there was a report recently in the Atlanta paper, where it was reported that we were selling our house to pay legal bills, which is true uh, but the article said that "the Ramseys have to give up their lavish lifestyle." Well, that wasn't necessary. You know, that that hurt! I mean, the fact of the matter is that we were losing our house, because this has been horrendously expensive, and you know we'd worked all our lives, and -
P: (crosstalk) - See, it's those -
J: our savings
P: - little adjectives -
J: - but, the adjective of "lavish lifestyle"
P: - Paints a portrait -
J: - paints this horrible picture! We feel like we been created into modern-day, real-life J.R. Ewings. (Quiet laughter from audience)
M: Um hmmm (affirmative.)
J: And, we were created uh, probably in the beginning by the tabloid media
P: Um hmmm (affirmative.)
J: to be hated. Because that sells sells their paper. People wanna you know find someone that's life is I don't know why people read tabloids. And but some do, and and the big problem is that many, many, more see the headlines and that's where the damage is done.
But, um
P: I mean as journalism -
J: That is just -
P: Yeah!
J: perpetuated, from our perspective um
M: Well, why do people read tabloids? They're in business because -
J: (exasperated) Yeah!
P: It's profit!
M: - they're some of the largest circulation -
P: There's something about I don't know whether it's Americans the human psyche something. We're just we're NOSY! You know, you (laugh) wanna know what our neighbor's doin'. You know. Where are they going? Where are they coming from? And I don't know what it is. I mean, I think it's sickening. But, they sell so many magazines it's just unimaginable.
J: Well, and you know, the issue is not, in my mind, not if people want to buy that stuff and read it, you know, they deserve to pay the two bucks, or whatever they have to pay for to buy it. But, the problem is: it's right in the front of everybody's face these lurid headlines which often are toned down in the story, you know.
"Father uh Assaults Daughter in Bed!" and then you, you that's the headline. And, so, if you're passing through the grocery line and you see that, you think, "Whoa!" and that gets burned in your brain. And then the next time you see it, it's burned again.
The story may be totally different. But the headlines are what do the damage. And I'm convinced hundreds of millions of people see those headlines because they're walking past the supermarket check-out stand. And that's where the damage is done. I don't you know if the tabloids I mean, that people buy child pornography magazines, people buy all sorts of strange things it's a free country, I guess.
But the fact that the "pushers" put this stuff right in our face
P: - with children in the (garbled may be "buggies")
J: is what's wrong with our our contention is, you know, let tabloids, if they t-t-they've got an audience, that's fine you know, that's not to be uh, the issue. The issue is: the pushers of this pornography, journalistic pornography in my opinion, uh should be criticized, by their customers for putting it in front of their children -
P: - "Pushers" being: the grocery stores, the drug stores, you know where that give them the floor space.
J: And, they do that because they because it's very profitable they make a lot of money.
M: Well, it's right -
P: (Shouting down the moderator) AND THEY MAKE LOT OF MONEY!
M: - there the tabloids are right there with the candy -
P: - That's right!
J: - You can't miss it.
M: - and the other stuff that may or may not be good for you, when you're checking out.
P: (loudly) And, you may not stoop to actually pick one up and looking at it, or buying it, for heaven's sake but, nevertheless, you're gonna see the headline. Perfect example: a few weeks ago you know it of course, we know, uh that part of the crime scene that we have this Hi-Tec boot footprint that is unidentifiable. Well, a headline ran: "Ramseys Turn Over Hi-Tec Boots". You know. So, if you just saw that, what would that tell you? We had a Hi-Tec boot you know. That is not what happened. Our investigators, you know, investigating um, you know into
J: - one of the leads --
P: - into one on the leads that we had, obtained a pair of Hi-Tec boots!
M: Oh. So, you went and got some boots.
P: (laughing) So our investigator obtained these boots turned them over to the police authorities. Well, the headline implies that it was they were our boots! You know .
M: Could you tell us who's they were? I mean, or just -
J: Well
M: - did you go to a store and buy them, or what?
J: No
P: (unhappily) -No.
J: These were we have probably a half a dozen good leads. That we've been working on. We've given all the information to the police. Uh one of them may be the killer none of them may be the killer. And, so, uh but this pair of boots belong to one of the leads that we have and the footprint is, from our perspective, an identical -
M: Matches.
J: - match. May or may not be anything. But, we gave them to the police, and said, "Here, this needs to be looked at. Please, look at them." And we can only hope that they have.
Um but, um you know, I've often thought that if we could, if we could marshal all the effort that the journalists have put in to this case, to finding the killer, we'd of had him a long time ago.
M: Hmmmm.
J: And there have been three or four, maybe half a dozen journalists who have really dug into some things, as I said earlier some very, very interesting bits of information, that we wouldn't have found, and I know the -
M: I want to go back to the students, but -
J: - the police wouldn't have found.
M: - could you name those journalists I mean, the journalists that were really turning up things that were -
J: Well Dan Glick of Newsweek uh
M: - helpful to the case.
P: - he found a tremendous amount.
J: - dug into a lot of stuff, just in his process of investigative reporting. Uh Charlie Brennan of, formerly the Rocky Mountain News, um broke this story about the ummm very similar circumstance that happened to this young girl in Boulder, nine months after JonBenet was assaulted. Um he had a difficult time getting it even printed. He he was a freelance journalist, at the time and nobody in Boulder would, or in Colorado would print the story. And, it ended up being printed by the Dallas Morning News and, of course, it made national headlines because it was, you know, very a very similar attack, uh had been kept quiet by the police had not been even disclosed to the prosecutors, who were looking at us very hard and it needed to be looked at very seriously, in my opinion. They broke that story, and that's great.
M: Let's get back to our students. You're on "Inside Media".
STUDENT QUESTIONER #4: My name is Esther (redacted) and I'm one of Mr. Morrison's students I just had a question: You wrote in your book, "Death of Innocence," that you started taking pictures of the media that were covering you. Now, may I ask why you began doing that? And, what you intend to do with the photographs?
J: Well, it was a defense what we found was that and, these are mostly tabloid photographers they hated to have their picture taken. I don't know why. If they were wanted for arrest somewhere hmmm
M: Oh now YOU'RE doing it!
P: Heh, ha ha ha! (loudly)
J: Sorry!
P: (gleefully) Editorializing!
J: (John and Patsy crosstalk) I
P: The best defense -
J: They
P: the best defense was to turn the tables on 'em!
J: They'd flee, basically.
P: Yeah!
J: They just hated to have their picture taken. They hated to be followed. They would follow us in their car you know, we'd be out driving, and we'd notice this car they always used rental cars
P: Um hmmm
J: In Colorado, rental cars have headlights that -
P: - the headlights -
J: - are on all the time. So, it was very easy to pick them out, because it's the only car with headlights on, all year round. Well, if we could get behind them and follow them if you pursue them in the same way they hated it. So, it became it became kind of a game, in some respects. Although, it was a very
P: Dangerous game.
J: - uh yeah, you know when Princess Diana was killed, you know, and that fleeing of the uh, tabloid photographers: I knew exactly how they felt.
P: Um hmm (affirmative.)
J: And, it's silly because it can't hurt you well they can hurt you immensely with a camera. Because of the things they say and the picture. Uh I've often said I'd rather have a gun pointed at me than a camera. Because, at least I know the gun I know the worst it can do. The worst damage it can do. But that just the feeling of being pursued, it's a it's like the red fox being pursued by the hounds. Uh it's I think it's just an instinctive uh, feeling that you have: that you don't wanna be pursued.
M: Can we talk about perceptions, a little bit? One question that you're obviously asked every time that you do an interview is: did you kill your daughter? When you first thought about answering that question, probably still today, do you think about what the best way to answer that question is, in terms of the tone you take, and the words you choose?
P: You know, this this never ceases to amaze me that people think that we are so calculating. Somebody said that that if we really did this, that we are the best we ougha get a uh an Oscar, or something, cause we're the best actor actors around. I mean, when somebody asks me that, I say, "NO!" I mean, I don't think about anything except, "NO! I didn't do it!" So, I don't I don't plan how I'm gonna say (laugh) it or, it's just um I just say, "No." What else is there to say? You know .
J: Y-y-y-eah I m-m-m-ean, it's a it's a uh, (pause) It's you know, on one level it's a it's a very foolish question. Cause we know who we are that we loved our children normal people. Ahh but now if..if somebody asks me that, I say "So why, why before I answer that, but why do you ask the question? Why would you even suspect that. Or, why would you wonder that? What in my background would make you think that? What what of the evidence, you know about, would make you think that?"
"Why would you even ask that question?"
M: Thinking back, was there a moment where you realized that you were suspected, although not named as suspects, that moment and, you're saying to yourselves, you know, "Well, we just go and tell them 'No that's ridiculous.'"
J: Yeah
M: But, I guess you know, you must have been thinking, "That's not good enough, that's not going to be good enough." Uh
P: See! That's where I think you're wrong: why shouldn't that be good enough? I mean, why do I have to defend myself I have been, you know, a good mother. I have been tried to be a good person. I mean, what in my background have I ever done -
J: See, we actually had -
P: - to make you THINK that?
J: - the Chief of Police in Boulder say, "Well, you prove to me you're innocent and I'll be the first to say it."
P: (exasperated gasp)
J: And, I felt like saying, "Do you know what you've just said?"
P: Right.
M: The opposite of what -
P: (crosstalk) - Yeah! Backwards of -
M: - is supposed to be the law.
P: - Innocent until proven guilty.
M: Umm hmm (affirmative.)
J: And, yet he had no concept of what he had just said. And yet, that's the perspective that they took on this case. "Prove to me you're innocent."
M: It's a very unusual position you were in -
J: Yeah.
M: - and, and and I think that some of us are just fascinated about (sputters) in morbid way, I have to admit but what would it be like to be to have that happen to you? And and just the incredible frustration that of not being able to communicate what you wanted to communicate.
J: Yeah. Well, it the big issue is the big perspective issue is, I think, is that we're not unique in this. This happens a lot in our country. I think the the whole, the whole approach, in large degree, of the justice system has taken on this, "You're guilty you gotta prove you're innocent." And, that's why we've got innocent people in jail. That's why you read about it everyday in the paper. People being released based on DNA evidence that was tested
P: Um hmm (affirmative.)
J: and like, "Whoops! They weren't guilty."
P: Um hmm (affirmative.)
J: But the police don't if I can use our experience as a as applying to the 18,000 police jurisdictions that are out there, which isn't fair, but they make a decision, they decide guilt, and try to prove it.
And, your job, it to prove you're not guilty. And that's backwards.
P: You can't how do you prove you're not guilty?
M: Reginald, got a question for them?
STUDENT QUESTIONER #5: My name is Reginald (redacted), and I'm a Junior at the University of Maryland, and my question is: if you were a journalist covering this case, how would you have gone about things differently?
M: And, if you could, along those lines touch on some of the characterizations that you mentioned. You've mentioned terms that journalists use: "lavish lifestyle". JonBenet is constantly referred to in stories as a "beauty queen."
M: That was the basis for the sensationalism of the story.
P: Well, I know you've heard this a million times "the pen is mightier than the sword." That I mean, John just said he'd rather have a gun pointed at him than a camera. I mean, when you write a story every word counts. Particularly, those adjectives. "The Ramseys give up 'lavish lifestyle'." You know.
Katie Couric said we were on the Today Show and she said, you know just in her you know, quick, "bub-bub-bub-bub-bub-bub-ba" you know, "Ramseys just take a 'self-sponsored' polygraph test."
And, I said, "WHOA, WHOA, WHAA whoa, whoa, whoa! Listen to what you just said! 'Self-sponsored polygraph test.'" I mean those little adjectives there absolutely send a picture, you know, to the listening audience to your reading audience, you combined with everybody else reporting about this are building a characterization, you know, of the person that you're reporting about. So: Watch those descriptive things. You're there to report the news. Unless you're on the editorial page, you do not have total carte blanche to give Reggie's, you know, personal opinion you know of what happened here, or who these people are. Or, how they came across to you. You know, unless somebody comes up to you and says, "Gee, when they were out in the hall what did they really act like?" Then you can say what Reggie feels like but Reggie reporting as a representative of USA Today, or the University of Maryland, or whatever shouldn't insert you know your own little adjectives, because that's what that's what nailed us!
I mean, people say, you know, (takes on a huffy, deep voice) "Ramseys live in a mansion! A b-i-i-i-i-g mansion!" You know, the price of the house kept going up you know. We tried to sell it, and the realtor said it kept going down I think it was Diane Sawyer who came into the house, and she said, "This is the mansion?" You know, it just got it it was make-believe! And, it was all because of the words chosen by each individual journalist. Time after time after time.
M: Meghan?
STUDENT QUESTIONER #6: Hi. I'm Meghan (redacted). My question for you: I know you guys touched on the law in England, as far as privacy laws but, do you feel that privacy laws and other limitations should be placed upon journalists or media coverage, in cases such as the killing of your daughter?
P: Funny you should ask our eighth grade son, Burke, is in his civics class studying privacy in the media. (sigh) And that's, you know, what he's going to be studying all year where do we find the balance between the public's right to know and an individual's right to privacy? Both of those are equally important. So it's when one over-steps the other, that it starts getting ugly.
Um do you have any ?
J: Well, I think I mean, the things that were offensive to me, just as a person were how why should a photographer be able to take my picture, without my permission and sell it? That didn't seem right. Now, um I know in France, for example, they have laws where you can't do that without the person's permission.
The um but, the big issue, I think, really and, and maybe you have to have laws cause there's always people who'll stoop to the lowest common denominator. We've got to protect our justice system from ah this intrusion and, and in fact it's being used for entertainment. I marvel at shows like CourtTV, and uh you know, the televised OJ trial. This is for entertainment. And, and that's not right.
P: And, one of the big problems, too is that, you know, I think you said that if one of the students gets one thing wrong, you know: a detail incorrect on your paper you get an "F". The press in this country: media, broadcast, print, whatever has no accountability. If they make a mistake, there is no one to smack their hand.
There's no one the liable laws are the only thing that we have to retaliate with as a private citizen but, even that is like, like David and Goliath. You know trying to...to fight this. So, um unless someone as a matter of fact I think Brill's Content do you'all you should get Brill's Content magazine they're kinda a "media watchdog" on their own industry. They did a survey of some of the top media executives, in the country. And posed two different, self-regulated kind of questions to them. You know, Would you, in lieu of a law being passed would you voluntarily, as a news organization agree to I'm paraphrasing but "back off", you know children, particularly and respect the privacy of people and, I think the whole thing came about right after JFK, Jr.'s plane went down and they were talking about how horrible it was people sticking cameras through to Caroline Kennedy's home, and that kind of thing.
And, I mean, almost without fail every one of 'em said, "Oh, no!" you know "We judge everything case-by-case and have all these wonderful um, mantras about how they are really want to do things ethically. But, you know, when they choose between ethics and getting' the scoop first you know, and be on the air in five minutes guess what they're gonna go with that one without checking things.
M: Did it, did it bother you at all when Brill's used a picture of your daughter on it's cover? They got quite a bit of criticism from other members of the media, who thought that they were also guilty of exploiting her death.
J: Yeah.
P: Well
J: Well we were so numbed by that time you know, it's .
M: Of all the exploitations, this wasn't so bad because it was media criticism?
J: (laughter) Well! Ha that helps!
P: Well! (laughs) It's kinda like it's kinda like why we're here today! You know preaching to the choir, kinda! I mean there is some choir-members here, if I'm not mistaken you know .
So. I mean they were using her picture as an example uh of people using her picture. (Laughs) You know what I mean So!
M: Some people have said that the problem with the law is that it could also stop those, sometimes rare occasions, when it's important for journalists to be able to take photographs of things going on in public-
J: Yeah, I know. And, that's a different how do you -
M: - to show, to show how about this: there has been some there's been talk about re-creating the National News Council. It would be a place that people, in your situation, could go to you know cast the light back on those it's kind of like an institutional way of turning the video camera on to the what would your opinion be about that kind of an institution?
J: I think that I mean, from what you've described, I think that would be very necessary to It's probably the only, from my awareness, the only way a group of professionals who don't have an oversight group, like the American Medical Association or the Bar Association and, you know, anybody can call themselves a "journalist." And there's it ranges from the lowest of the low, like the tabloid to the best of the best. And, unfortunately you know, the lowest of the low bring down the whole standard of the industry.
There used to be accountability. As I looked at it from, OK how do you fix this? Maybe, it can't be fixed maybe you just hope there's enough good journalists out there that and people begin to understand that this is where I get accurate, correct information.
You know, in the old days, you know that if Walter Cronkite said it it was true. You just didn't question that. And now, I've learned I'm not sure where you go for that absolutely, most-of-the-time, accurate information. But, if maybe the way it's fixed is if enough people like you guys, that understand what your role is and it's a critical role in a democracy and a free society that, it would counterbalances the bad, uh and um cause I've thought about this a lot. You know, how do you how do you fix all these wrongs we've seen? And um, it's not easy.
P: And the trouble is, you know you students sitting there are saying, "I will never stoop to this. I was raised better. My momma wouldn't like this!" (laughs) You know and you might have really great you know determination to go out there and really fix it. But, all of a sudden when Globe Magazine, or somebody is waiving this big check, and a free expense account then, uh a car, and you know blah-blah-blah it's like: (whispers) "Oooooh! Gosh! Welllll let's just do this for a little while." You know and get back into the real stuff later or something.
You know the "almighty dollar" does strange things to people .
So, you know, don't give up your
J: Principles.
P: principles. Just don't. It's just that's where things start a downward spiral.
M: Tell us who you are.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #7: I'm Maura (redacted), also from the University of Maryland. You were talking about your son. I was wondering what steps you take to shield your son from the media, and how has he been effected?
P: Well, first step is I'd rather not answer that question. Cause I just don't like to talk about him a whole lot or tell anything about him. For that very reason
J: We try to be very careful that his picture is not taken. The issue really is you know, we've seen we've seen the good in our society, and we've seen the bad and we know there's both. The good far outweighs the bad and that's the good news. But, there are bad people out there. And you know, that's why and people that aren't their head's not screwed on right. And that's why you have John Lennon being shot, you know, out in New York for no good reason.
And, so, we don't want Burke to be identifiable.
P: I really wanted him to come today. In fact, I'd spoken to his Principal and all that to get him out of school, because he's studying this privacy and the media all year. And then, at the last minute, I learned that it was open to the public and, I just I just I mean, initially, I thought that we were going to be in your classroom at the university so, I said to his Principal: "Oh, great so, we can visit a college and, you know perfect topic to discuss and then, you know when that "open to the public" thing came out I just chickened out.
M: There is a line you draw with him. I mean, we have to talk about the lawsuit. That was the reason you sued -
J: Right.
P: Right.
M: - the tabloid. I mean tell us about that.
J: Well, part of our responsibility we feel is that this is going to effect our children, it's going to effect their children and who knows how far downstream that'll go? You know, Patsy and I it's not a issue to us as to how people feel whether 20% of the people feel we're guilty, or 80%. We know the truth we, you know are comfortable with ourselves. But, we've got a responsibility to try to reclaim our good family name for the sake of our children. And, so that's that's really what's driving those kinds of efforts I think, more than anything else that's, that's why we've chosen to speak out. You know, a good criminal attorney will tell you tell their client, "Look: if you're under suspicion by the police, my preference is to put you in a closet, close the door, tell the police to 'go prove it' but, we're not gonna help you."
Any that's Criminal Defense 101. And uh, that's why, for three years, we never spoke out. Because our attorneys said, "You know, you're under investigation under suspicion by the police "
Uh, we are fully prepared to meet them in a full court of law, and I promise you it's the only thing I'll promise you we will be victorious.
We'll win there's no question about it. But, we're not going to practice our trade in front of a camera. And so, for three years, we bit our tongue. You know, we wanted to say, "That's not true." You know that's and protect our name and our reputation but, uh we were strongly advised against us against it.
M: It was Burke that was accused of, by the Star was that the
J: Oh I think all of the tabloids
M: and the lawsuit? Do you feel that it was that there was some justice, in how that was resolved?
J: Uh it was settled. Uh prior to a trial. And, uh it was satisfactory to us.
I mean the only accountability, ultimately, that there is available, to a citizen against the media, regardless of who it is is in court, and financial accountability. You know, we can't have them in prison because of the laws: they operate under the First Amendment. In fact, I've often thought of the tabloids as a basically a form of organized crime operating under the protection of the First Amendment. But, they can be held accountable financially still, very difficult to do, because most of the laws in this country as they pertain to, you know speech are put together with the USA Today's and the Washington Post's, and the New York Times' in mind. And, they want to be very careful that they're protected so they can exercise their role in society.
The lowest of the low operate under the same rules. And, they're two different organizations.
End of Part Two of ThreeIt's probably too late to get justice for JonBenét. Maybe it always was. But knowing where things went wrong is the first step to not going there again. **-- Alan Prendergast-Dec 21, 2006--**
Bring all our Missing Home www.usearchut.org
Prayers for our military who are protecting our freedom.
July 3, 2014, 5:38 am, Thu Jul 3 5:38:29 UTC 2014 #3
Part 3 of 3
From the Newseum interview "Inside Media: Coverage and Controversies with the Ramseys", of October 12th, 2000.
Transcribed by Dunvegan/2001
PART 3 of 3
The moderators: Blake Morrison and Eric Newton.
MODERATOR: You know, you talked a little about the court of public opinion I think, Amanda, you had a question about perceptions, initially?
STUDENT QUESTIONER #8: Right. I'm Amanda I'm another student. Do you think the media overplayed your daughter as a beauty queen? And, how did the media's portrayal, with the pageant pictures effect the public's view of you as parents?
PATSY RAMSEY: Well, I think a lot of things you know; timing, availability of video footage, all contributed to that perception of John and me as parents and also, enabled the world to see so much of JonBenet, vs. one little school picture. And I, I'm almost certain, that is why you know, the world knows of her so much more than just a child who was killed somewhere and they just have one little picture available.
Uh you know, I grew up in a in a small town in West Virginia. Lived in Atlanta for years, and years, and years it's a kinda of a "Southern thing" is the beauty pageant deal. I was involved in the Miss America pageant, it paid a lot of my college tuition with scholarships from the Miss America pageant I'm gonna watch it this weekend on television. Um but people have condemned that for their own sick reasons. I mean, it is not unlike parents I know who get their their eight and nine year olds up at the crack of dawn, and take them to an ice hockey rink, its 5 a.m., because it's the only time that they can get "rink time."
Um it's not unlike little boys being you know, dressed in um those wrestling outfits they wear. You know, I mean it's just JonBenet was a performer. She we would have a dinner party, and she would come downstairs with a pom-pom on her head and a tutu on, and say, "Watch me, watch me I wanna sing a song for you!" You know and everybody would have to sit there and and watch while she did her little thing.
And, I've gotten letters from mothers and parents that say, you know, "My little girl was the same way. Now, she's a vocal performance major at XYZ University." It was just something to grab a-hold of um,
JOHN RAMSEY: You know, she did a lot of things and that was one of them. She also took violin lessons, and French lessons, we had her signed up to do rock climbing our approach with the kids was we would like them to find one thing that they were good at, that they could be proud of themselves and, they tried a lot of different things. JonBenet tried she took dance lessons, and and, uh we have pictures of that, too but the, the uh pageant pictures are what got out.
And, um she did I used to tell her that it doesn't matter whether you're the prettiest or have the prettiest dress on it's your talent that counts, and uh cause, each one of these little events had a talent portion, and she would always tell me, "I worked really hard on my talent, Dad." And, in fact, I wear this medal that she'd given me in her last little competition. Where she'd won the overall talent award. And, she was just a very talented kid. She loved to get on a stage, and perform.
My biggest fear was that she was going to run off to Hollywood. And, uh (laughs)
PATSY RAMSEY: Now, see Burke is not like that. He came home a couple weeks ago, and saying that he thought he might want to try out for the middle school play and I was like, "Wow! You know, this is this is a big deal!"
And I said, "What part are you trying out for?" I'm thinking the lead, you know he said, "Aw, I wanna be on the sound crew." You know. OK. (sounds disappointed) But, you know, kids are different.
Burke can do you ought to see what he can do with a skateboard. You know blows my mind. But kids have different fortes.
JOHN RAMSEY: But to be specific it absolutely portrayed a picture that was inaccurate biased opinions I believe. No question.
MODERATOR: Let's take a look at one of the tabloid pages that we're talking about today. This one, you know we're talking about the words that are used. And this banner red headline says, "Little Beauty Sex Murder." Doesn't say "Violin-playing Girl Killed." or something like that. That's deliberate well, you know, obviously this sensationalism of and then, then also it says, "Crime Scene Photos" in the Globe. And, these are photographs of the, of the crime scene and of her which we're not going to show to you, but you get the idea of what's selling this newspaper.
It's being sold on the words: "beauty", "sex murder", and "six-year old". And that is the fundamental elements of the of it. And, it brings up a question: the psychology of tragedy. And, you know, we've been exposed to so many murders, and so many things over the years that it seems to me that that whether you look at OJ Simpson, or the or the Kennedy death that there's some kind of American fascination with, you know: the last possible victim. The last possible person you would think could be accused of murder. OJ Simpson. The last possible person you think could run his plane into the ocean Kennedy. The last possible person you could think would be killed in their own home your daughter.
And, do you think have you thought about that? And do you is it, is it so much the is it almost just the worst terrible situation that you know, you say that many other people have been in the same situation your case was singled out I mean, you were right there in-between OJ and Monica Lewinsky in a slot, almost
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah.
MODERATOR: "The Story!" And, do you think that what I'm just is there any validity to what I'm saying about this tragedy that this psychology of tragedy?
JOHN RAMSEY: It's it's I think you have to look at who buys that stuff. It's an element of voyeurism. Just like people that buy any other kind of pornography. The problem with the tabloids is that the headlines are visible to hundreds of millions of people. A very small fraction of people ever buy one of those things.
But I used to I used to do it myself! Walk through a grocery store, you know: "Two-Headed Baby Born in Kansas!" you think, "Whoa!" You know? Could that be? You kinda know it's not true but you there's just this little element of, "Gee, I wonder if that's true?"
And, there's a survey taken back that 7% of the Americans believe that the tabloid stuff is true. You think, "Well, that's great." But, that's one out of ten roughly. That's a big number that believe that stuff.
MODERATOR: Well, the problem I have is that when you see four in a row, and says "It was John!" "It was Patsy!" "It was Burke!" "It was all of them!" "It was none of them!" Those things can't all possibly be true.
JOHN RAMSEY: No, it's kind of Burke's what they figure was that Burke sells and we actually have that on tape from one of the editor's of the tabloids. So let's run more Burke stuff.
PATSY RAMSEY: He's nine years old
JOHN RAMSEY: Our fundamental position with the tabloids, is look, if we as a society are going to permit this stuff fine you gotta take the good with the bad freedom of press, and freedom of speech. But, are we going to let them attack our children? We let them attack our movie stars and our politicians but are we going to let them attack out children? For profit?
And, it's a form of pornography and we allow it to be displayed for all to see at the Wall-mart at the check-out stand. You know: why shouldn't it be wrapped with the brown paper wrapper, just like a Penthouse magazine?
MODERATOR: Another question from our students
How are you doing Good morning. Phil (redacted) from University of Maryland, Public Relations student. I'm wondering if if you're ever to be prosecuted, would you testify on your own behalf, for JonBenet's murder?
JOHN RAMSEY: Oh, sure. We asked to testify before the Grand Jury and we were never called. We've never been concerned about a trial, I mean, we don't want to go through that horrible, uh disgrace. Uh, but we've never been afraid of the outcome: it would be a massacre. And uh the good news is a Grand Jury looked at a one-sided presentation for 13 months, and said, "No." And it takes about that much evidence to indict someone you know. Would we want to go through that horrible embarrassment? No. Would we? Sure. Cause we know the outcome. It would be a in fact, I've said I'd love to have it televised, if they ever did that I'd love for the public to see what's been done to us.
MODERATOR: Patsy, we have a number of media who are here, covering this event, and they're going to go back and write stories, or file stories for broadcast, and I'm wondering what you would tell them as they start thinking about how to put their stories together, and what you would tell my students who are going to be scrutinizing their stories, about this, tomorrow?
MODERATOR: Write your story write your own story here!
PATSY RAMSEY: Write your story! (laughter) I'm glad you came to class today, I hope you learned something!
MODERATOR: Nothing else?
PATSY RAMSEY: You know what? The proof's in the pudding! Let's see what happens tomorrow. Right?
JOHN RAMSEY: I'll tell you what our our thought process is what we've been trying to do for, literally for three and a half years now, is to get objective experienced investigators on this case. We've hired uh, one fellow who's investigated 300 homicides, works on full-time. There's only so much a private citizen can do.
So how do we get the government to do the right thing here, from our perspective? How do we get them to investigate if we get them if we get the government to look at uh, the leads we have with one tenth of the energy that they've looked at us we'd be thrilled. So, how do we do that? The only way we can do it, is through public pressure. Our government responds to public pressure. The police respond to public pressure. And, so if we can get the public and the media to start saying, "Wait. Something is fishy, here."
You know, there was another girl who was attacked the same way, nine months later. Same M.O., same you know, a carbon copy of the only difference was that it was interrupted thankfully before potentially a murder took place. Who knows what the outcome would have been.
And bring pressure on the police to do the right thing. That's what we hope to do. And, that's the only there's no you know, we've got 18,000 police jurisdictions in this country, all of which are autonomous authorities, in their local communities. There's no higher authority. We can't go to the next you know, to the Division level, and say, "Would you please investigate this?"
MODERATOR: That would be the "good media" looking at the role of the media
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah! Right! And and not I don't care we've told people that we've we've told the police: "OK, if we have our if we could ask for one thing take two of your detectives and say, OK you go and investigate the Ramseys, keep investigating YOU two, assume the Ramseys are innocent, and go look at uh
PATSY RAMSEY: Everything else.
JOHN RAMSEY: Everything else.
MODERATOR: In your book -
PATSY RAMSEY: We'd be thrilled!
MODERATOR: - you detail leads that remain untracked
JOHN RAMSEY: As far as we know. We don't know what's going on. So, if we can bring that kind of awareness to the surface and bring public pressure to bear on the bureaucrats, which the police are, that's our only hope.
PATSY RAMSEY: The other thing is too I mean, I'm not sure I understand why the media wasn't all over Governor Owens like a cheap suit when he made such an outrageous comment. You know insinuating -
MODERATOR: Repeat the comment for the you mean
PATSY RAMSEY: Well he implied that he knew that we were guilty! You know
JOHN RAMSEY: - Despite what the Grand Jury concluded.
PATSY RAMSEY: This is the, you know, I mean I don't know how many times before we said, "God, can't we go to the State Attorney General? Or, Janet Reno? Or, somebody? And, then here the Governor comes out (!) I mean, even if we are guilty you know, he should not be the justice system! To come out and say, (lowers voice to imitate Owens) "I have decided they're guilty!"
MODERATOR: You had the same kind of thing with the mayor?
JOHN RAMSEY: Sure. In the very beginning
MODERATOR: (garbled) "our town is safe there is no killer on the loose" that sort of
JOHN RAMSEY: A lot of people say that was the turning point
PATSY RAMSEY: That was the pivotal
JOHN RAMSEY: from that day on and we, said we were asked what would you ask the people of Boulder, and we said, "Be aware that there's a killer out there." And, the mayor came out and said, "Oh, no there's no killer ."
PATSY RAMSEY: (whispering in staccato counterpoint, in the background, imitating the mayor "Don't worry don't worry don't worry don't worry ."
JOHN RAMSEY: the subliminal message is there.
MODERATOR: Yeah. And these are the people in charge of the law enforcement infrastructure
PATSY RAMSEY: Exactly.
MODERATOR: that you, responsible to the people
PATSY RAMSEY: The media, to me, should have been saying, "Whoa! Wait a minute!" Who gave the Governor the right to do you know, is this where we're going as a country? To allow our publicly-elected officials to do this? But, you know it was, you know sensational or sexy...
JOHN RAMSEY: Well, there's been a lot of investmentt in our guilt.
MODERATOR: Let's get to our students. Yes, you're on.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #9: My name's Danielle (redacted) and I'm not a student in Mr. Morrison's class I'm a little further along. I'm in the law class right now, and studying something similar to what is sounds like your son is studying and, we're studying the difference between public figures and public people and private people. Do you consider yourselves to be public people, and where does the line get drawn?
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah we don't consider ourselves public people. I've always wondered why there was a distinction why should the law look at citizens differently? A citizen is a citizen, under the law. In fact, that law, is a real problem it's very protective of the media because they can, in effect, make you a public person thereby protecting themselves from the normal libel and slander laws if you're a public person you have to prove it was done with malice. And, that's a very difficult uh, threshold. I've always wondered, why should there be a difference? A citizen is a citizen, under most of our laws why is there a difference in a class of citizen, relative to the media?
So are we considered a public figure by the courts? Probably absolutely, yes. And I think that was probably you know we became that when we did our little CNN interview, in the beginning. Had I known I mean, you can't know but if someone who had been through this whole process, and took us aside and said, "Wait a minute. You've got to understand how this works." It would have been difficult because we couldn't have spoken out. I mean, the only public vehicle to speak out, is through the media. Really. I mean how do you how do you communicate today? It's gotta be through the media.
Well, as soon as you do that you're a public figure, therefore uh you have no
PATSY RAMSEY: You're exempt from
JOHN RAMSEY: fundamentally no rights protection under the libel/slander laws which is what the media will tell you IS your protection.
So I think it's a huge problem in our structure. I don't think there should be a difference public people you're a citizen period.
MODERATOR: Sarah, do you want to
STUDENT QUESTIONER #10: My name is Sarah (redacted) and I'm actually one of Blake's students. But, you were talking earlier about how you've thought about this a great deal how do we fix the problems of the media. How would you, from your perspective?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well, I don't I don't have a good answer. I've mean, I've thought about it a lot it's run the gamut from you know in the beginning I thought this would just be a public broadcasting system and that's it. We realize, well, that's not gonna work the whole reason that we have freedom of press is that is to keep the government accountable. So long term, that was a bad idea. I think it's a ultimately, the media the bad elements of the media have to be held accountable. Financially. In court. That's ultimately the solution. I don't uh I say about me what you want but if you violated me under the law I expect accountability. I think that, pure and simple, is the way you address you know the bottom end of the problem.
PATSY RAMSEY: I think another way is and this really didn't dawn on me until a journalist said, "Well, hey! If a police officer tells me something am I allowed to report that? He should be a credible source." And I said, "Well I guess so you know it seems to me like the problem is that the people in the justice system, or any kind of law enforcement, should not be allowed to have such a open dialogue for communications in the press if they do, you know.
The Chief of Police of Atlanta can come out and say, "This happened. We know that, you know, ten people were killed in an office building on this day." And, that's it. I mean, there shouldn't be the ability for a cop, like Steve Thomas, to have these you know, under the table, deep throat conversations with I don't care who it is whether it's Tom Brokaw, or Tony Frost from the Globe. That's a
JOHN RAMSEY: That's a violation of public trust .
PATSY RAMSEY: I think a big big thing. Journalists can just say, (changes voice) "Wh-h-h-a-t! Here's the Chief of Police and the lead detective! He's the Governor why shouldn't I repeat that!" You know, I think that is probably where the biggest there SHOULD be a law somewhere, somehow eliminating that scenario .
MODERATOR: Question here.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #11: Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Aton (redacted) and I'm a Freshman journalism major at Maryland. You spoke earlier about communicating through the media I just wanted to ask, in your opinion, what's been the most effective mode of communicating your side of the story? Has it been through your book, or through appearing on shows, just 20/20 just what do you think has the best effect on letting the public know you know your side?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well, the book we wrote, so that there was a one document that was complete unedited uncut, that would be around for anybody that wanted to read it forever what we've enjoyed in terms of communicating, the most, is live television. And that's because you can't be cut. And, it's embarrassing for the host to cut you off you're trying to make a point.
It also becomes a "numbers game." I mean, the book you know, a good book in this country will sell, you know the average book sells a very few numbers it's about 60 65,000 books that come out every year, or something like that. And, the average book sells about 6,000 copies. A best-seller will sell about 200,000 copies so, you reach 400,000 people. You go on the Today Show you'll talk to 7 million people. You do a Barbara Walters' Special and you'll talk to 20 million people. And, so that becomes a bigger for us that was the issue you know, for three years hundreds of millions of people have heard that we were evil people, that killed our pa- killed our child.
How do you, how do you make a dent in that? And, um
PATSY RAMSEY: I've always said in these litigations, that part of the settlement should be equal inches. You know, if there have been
MODERATOR: And, in the same place!
PATSY RAMSEY: Yeah!
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah! Right!
PATSY RAMSEY: If there have been a hundred and fifty you know, banner headlines that said, "Parents Did It!" or, "Son Did It!" or, "The Dog Did It!" or, whatever. There should be I want a hundred and fifty headlines, same size, type, same color that says, "Parents Are Nice People" or, something! (laughs)
JOHN RAMSEY: Now the problem is
PATSY RAMSEY: I'd put them outta business!
JOHN RAMSEY: it, it works on me is that the first headlines the first impressions stick with you. I was watching a biography about Ricky Nelson the other night. And, I'd always thought that Ricky Nelson was cooking up cocaine in the back of an airplane, it caught on fire and it crashed. That was the initial headline. And, here, twenty years later, in this biography I find out that that's not true at all. That the NTSB investigated it, and that was totally false! Yes it was reported but I thought, "Oh, my God! That happened to me!" I thought, "That's what happened!" And I was I had no I wasn't aware of any follow-up information that came out that said, "no that's not at all what happened."
And, that's the problem in our situation. And, there and we I've always said we can find, convict, and uh, uh execute the killer and there'll still be 15% of the people walking around there, who still believe the parents did it.
MODERATOR: Another question?
STUDENT QUESTIONER #12: My name is Dena I'm a Junior, a journalism major at Maryland. And, your last question kind of, um leads into mine, about the television. The TV moment that struck me most was when I saw you on Larry King Live with the detective I don't remember his name
PATSY RAMSEY: Steve Thomas.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #12: Oh, OK. He like outright accused you of murdering your daughter. As I was watching it I remember like, feeling the tension you know on the set; it felt very tense and awkward and I was wondering how you felt doing that, and when you were going into that interview, did it turn out the way you had expected it to? Or, did you feel like it
JOHN RAMSEY: Well
PATSY RAMSEY: (loudly in a "Don't go there, Pal!" tone) You could have cut it with a knife! It was SO tense in there! (laughs)
JOHN RAMSEY: There's an old axiom that you should never argue with a fool in public. And, there we were. But, um he was, he was our primary accuser. And, um if we're going to address this head-on, you know we've got to address him head-on. It was, for me, it was the last place in the world I wanted to be. I couldn't hardly stand to be in the same room with the guy. All the horrible things he'd done to my family. But, um that was not a pleasant evening.
Did it turn out the way I'd hoped? Um I guess that's in the eyes of the viewer. I don't know what our frustration has been, with with a guy like that is that uh, um he, he is can be he's a poster child for all that's wrong with the justice system. And, unfortunately, it came to bear on us. And uh we'd hoped that people would would see that. As we so clearly saw it.
PATSY RAMSEY: You should have been there during the commercial breaks. (John laughs in the background) You know, at least at least when you're on the air, everyone is kinda doing something you know I mean, when it was silent I mean, even Larry King, was like, "Well uh how about those Braves?" And, mean Steve Thomas was fidgeting and lookin' at his watch and you know I mean, I was closer than I am to you and he was just you know (laughing) it was
Voice from the audience: You can tell us!
PATSY RAMSEY: heh
MODERATOR: Somewhere beyond weird
PATSY RAMSEY: Way!
MODERATOR: One more student question, then we'll turn to our reporters.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #13: Hi. My name's Chris. I'm a Sophomore at Maryland, a journalism student. My question's more about your role as parents, more than media figures. And, my question is: How do you deal with the ever-present negativity imposed by constant accusations, and suspicions, but still mourn, as parents, the loss of your daughter? 'Cause that gets seems to get lost so easily in the shuffle. Like, this is the most important part. That's not really addressed that much.
JOHN RAMSEY: You're absolutely correct. The one fact that everyone knows about us, for sure, is that we are parents of a murdered child. And, and that has been totally lost. And I could tell you, after losing two children now, that you never get over that. A hole in your heart that never goes away. You learn to live with it. (sigh) Um, but your life's changed forever. It's a you don't laugh the same you don't enjoy things the same as you did.
What's been interesting, and thankfully it's given us a lot of faith in humanity, is that uh, people that have approached us, when we're out you know: traveling or grocery store, or whatever 100% of the time not one exception 100% of the time have been kind sympathetic apologetic. And, people say, "How is it to go out in public?" And I say, "It's great! People have been wonderful to us!" And, and that's without exception. So, that's the good side we've seen in dealing with this.
And, the only people who've really been cruel to us visibly have been the Boulder Police and the media.
And (laughs) I hate to say "never", 'cause that'll give somebody the challenge to be be the first. But, we have never no one has ever come up to us and been anything but kind, and uh, compassionate. And, that makes us -
PATSY RAMSEY: Thank you. Thank you for your question.
JOHN RAMSEY: - feel good.
STUDENT QUESTIONER #13: You're welcome.
MODERATOR: Let's turn to our reporters. Tell us who you are, and where you're from.
MIKE WALTER: I'm Mike Walter, I'm with USA Today Live. I've heard you mention Barbara Walters, Larry King, Katie Couric. I want you to draw a distinction, if you can, about the local media. Do you find that the Atlanta television stations are treating you a little bit better than the Denver TV stations? Or, is there any distinction?
JOHN RAMSEY: Um I don't think so. I mean I think it's it's more of a tier um. See, what I think what I think happened in this was that the, um the local media in Colorado was getting information from the the police and, and drawing conclusions. And then, the national media was picking it up as facts. So, they were kinda doing the investigative work for the national media. And, that's what kinda got replayed nationally.
The I think at, at at the level of local television stations, and local newspaper I mean, the Denver Post has been pretty uh, pretty heartless frankly. Uh, and and not objective. Where where the Atlanta Constitution has been probably more more objective in the things that they report.
With the exception of the "lavish lifestyle" we "had to give up" I thought that was kinda of a cheap shot.
But, um
PATSY RAMSEY: I mean, is is there a difference between the mindset in Georgia, and the mindset in Colorado? I know that I would say, "Definitely. Yes!" And, I think a lot of that is due to the fact that the media has just of how it has been reported in Colorado.
I mean, if you look at you know, polls and this, that, and the other thing I mean, Colorado (very emphasized, loudly) HATES us! You know? Um
JOHN RAMSEY: Not everyone. We get some wonderful letters from Colorado people that say, "I'm embarrassed by what our Governor has said and what has happened to you. I'm ashamed of our state."
And we and we knew wonderful people in Colorado.
PATSY RAMSEY: (sigh) Yeah
JOHN RAMSEY: And, so you can't you can't categorically say that. But
PATSY RAMSEY: But, by and large, the media out there has kinda manipulated the the balance you know
MIKE WALTER: Do you feel I know you (garbled) this will be my last question, because I know other people want to ask . But, I heard you talking about leads that you've developed and, and the police. Do you find that when you come to them with leads, that they just "poo-poo" it? Or .
JOHN RAMSEY: Pretty much. Pretty much.
MIKE WALTER: How frustrating is that?
PATSY RAMSEY: Oh, very frustrating!
JOHN RAMSEY: Extremely frustrating, because where where else do you take them? I don't know. I mean ah
PATSY RAMSEY: I mean, I wish we could go to Atlanta homicide, and say, (assumes rushed, hushed voice) "Here! Look at this! You know, do something with this." Or, New York City. Or, LA. Someplace that that does this a lot. But, all we have the Boulder police are IT! You know. That's .that's .(slaps her hands together) "The Wall!" That's it. That's all you have.
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah and, and our frustration is the lack of openness
PATSY RAMSEY: - Expertise.
JOHN RAMSEY: and objectivity. I don't they can investigate us for 20 more years, if they want if they would just investigate the rest of the leads as well .
PATSY RAMSEY: And, they'll tell you that they've done that!
JOHN RAMSEY: objectively.
PATSY RAMSEY: They'll say, (assumes dopey-sounding voice) "Oh, yeah we know all about that we've done that." But
JOHN RAMSEY: but, it's done with the objective of dismissing the lead. Their their strategy in the beginning was in fact, they said it publicly that, uh eliminate the defenses. In other words, here's the group of suspects; eliminate everybody and see who's left. And, of course, we were the ones they wanted to have left.
So, uh that was their strategy in looking at leads.
PATSY RAMSEY: I mean, we've heard that they would you know, interview you and say, "OK, where were you Christmas Night?" (assumes silly voice) "Well I was at home with my Mom ." "OK! Check. You know. Take his word for it." (laughs) "He was home or, you know.
JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah. We've looked into a number of the alibied, so-called, interesting leads that weren't valid at all. That were accepted by the police as
PATSY RAMSEY: I mean, I've heard on the few snippets that I have watched of some people being interviewed I said, "I don't know what else they said but, I know THAT is a lie." You know. Well whatever -
JOHN RAMSEY: But, it is frustrating absolutely.
PATSY RAMSEY: Really frustrating.
2. "Newseum Transcript (3 of 3)- End"
Posted by Dunvegan on 13:32:57 3/25/2001
MODERATOR: A third of the murder cases aren't solved. I mean, realistically since the FBI was denied early involvement, in this case. I take it, from what you're saying, it would have been better had they, hat they been there. But, since it happened you know, what are the chances that this is really ever going to be solved?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well, we've been told I've asked these investigators that are working on it independent of the police who have lots and lots of experience. Collectively they've investigated like 500 homicides. I said, "How ya feeling? You feeling pessimistic, optimistic, or just kinda neutral?" And, they said, "No we're optimistic. This case can be solved. We gotta have the information the police have or the cooperation of the police. But, it can be solved."
PATSY RAMSEY: One of the DAs, who was on the case when Lou Smit was there told us, "If we had had " and I can't remember whether he said, "two more weeks" or "two more months" He said, "We were ALMOST there." He said, "We were so close, I could TASTE it." I'm not kidding you!
MODERATOR: Hmmm.
PATSY RAMSEY: He said this. And then, you know, Romer steps in yanks the rug out takes everybody off, and puts in three Special Prosecutors. He said, "We were CLOSE!" I mean, he said, "I could TASTE it!" How close is that?
MODERATOR: Um hmmm (affirmative.)
PATSY RAMSEY: Questions from our reporters?
SCOTT STREAMODERATOR: Yes. Hello, my name is Scott Stream, with the Chronicle of Higher Education. I was interested you have spoken a little bit about accountability, and how you thought that the news organizations really, the only accountability they had was financially. Interested to see what you thought about, a couple weeks ago the New York Times ran a retraction about responding to their coverage in the Wen Ho Lee case, and acknowledging that they had been inaccurate in some of that reporting.
Is that something that you would like to see, or would accept, as a form of accountability in this case if that turned out that way?
JOHN RAMSEY: Well, I think that's a .that's part of it. I mean, certainly saying, "I'm sorry." Yeah. Absolutely. Or, "I was wrong." And, doing it in an equal level of exposure. Um make it across it doesn't really matter it doesn't take a lot of uh uh extract a lot of pain, frankly, for the damage that was caused.
PATSY RAMSEY: I mean, the way these you know, these publications and you probably are I'm not telling you anything you don't know is that, you know, the possibility of being sued for libel and slander is a line item in the cost of doing business.
######## TAPE ENDS HERE ###########It's probably too late to get justice for JonBenét. Maybe it always was. But knowing where things went wrong is the first step to not going there again. **-- Alan Prendergast-Dec 21, 2006--**
Bring all our Missing Home www.usearchut.org
Prayers for our military who are protecting our freedom.
Similar Threads
New John Ramsey interviewBy heymom in forum Justice for JonBenet Discussion - Public ForumReplies: 32Last Post: August 3, 2016, 12:05 pm, Wed Aug 3 12:05:08 UTC 2016
From John Ramsey's '98 interviewBy Spade in forum Justice for JonBenet Discussion - Public ForumReplies: 44Last Post: September 11, 2006, 6:03 pm, Mon Sep 11 18:03:43 UTC 2006
Aurora, This is for YOU. Ramsey NPR Interview.By Tricia in forum Justice for JonBenet Discussion - Public ForumReplies: 1Last Post: April 8, 2005, 11:42 am, Fri Apr 8 11:42:24 UTC 2005
Patsy Ramsey's 1997 BPD interviewBy Spade in forum Justice for JonBenet Discussion - Public ForumReplies: 6Last Post: January 22, 2004, 10:14 am, Thu Jan 22 10:14:50 UTC 2004
Links to CNN Interview Transcripts: Ramsey Murder CaseBy Dunvegan in forum Transcripts: Ramsey murder caseReplies: 0Last Post: November 14, 2001, 9:35 pm, Wed Nov 14 21:35:05 UTC 2001


text:
All the services. All the support. All right here.
Whether you're looking for one-on-one experts or self-help resources, you've found the right place for world-class assistance.
Professional Services
Tap into our full-service consultants who can help you create the right digital vision and customer experience to set your business apart.
Digital Learning
From onsite custom content to on-demand tutorials, learn how to establish a digital foundation, uncover insights, and create the right connections with customers.
Help & Support
Get 24/7 help in multiple languages across the globe from our customer care team, documentation, and community forums.
Access our worldwide network of certified partners to solve your business's unique challenges and get the most out of Adobe Experience Cloud.
Customer success begins here.
See how Adobe Experience Cloud helps top organizations solve complex marketing challenges.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Any We've Heard Twice
Marguerite Shuster
Years ago, my church-going uncle, observing a tiny grandchild struggling to carry a Christmas present almost as big as he was, slyly intoned, "It's not heavy; it's my present."
Of course, he was invoking an illustration that is now 130 years old, of a little Scottish girl carrying a large baby. When asked if he is heavy, she responds, "He's not heavy; he's my brother."
By the time I first heard the story, the girl had transmuted into an African boy trudging along a long, dusty road, trying desperately to get help for the disabled brother on his back. The line has become the slogan for the Boys Town nonprofit; the title, slightly altered, of a hit Hollies song; and the theme of a Miller Lite commercial (good deeds being appropriately rewarded, of course, by a tall cool one). The story clearly strikes a chord across time and genres, so why would I suggest banning it from the pulpit?
My uncle's response gives the first clue: Everyone has heard this anecdote already. It readily provokes parody instead of a deep understanding of the truth that love makes burdens light. I tell students that if they have heard an illustration even twice, using it themselves is risky. Of course, the problem for the preacher is exacerbated by the viral quality of today's good stories, to which nearly all of us have instant access. Such stories can be made to work only if the preacher signals a fresh twist upfront.
A subtler difficulty, but one all too common, is moralism and guilt-induction. Yes, love lightens burdens, but even the most loving people can become exhausted and overwhelmed by burdens, say of caregiving, that have pushed them beyond ...1


text:
|Today is August 23, 2019
|Join Now! | Home | Sign in | FAQ | Help
by keora
The latest entry is August 22, 2019
Serving up the best and worst of myself on a daily basis...
The Life of a married mom who is in her dream career, chasing after a wonderful girl. Trying to maintain the balance of this crazy life.
keora = Cassandra aka Casie
Mike = the love of my life
Julia = our Beautiful daughter
Login to select
your favorite journals
|© Website Copyright 2017 by My-Journal.com
© Journal Content Copyright 2017 by the Author
Terms of Service Agreement
Privacy Policy


text:
I told you several days ago not to be surprised if Ryan Tannehill starts Friday's preseason game at Carolina. I told you in a post earlier today that Tannehill was the best of the three quarterbacks in the two-minute drill today.
So the stage is set for tomorrow's practice, which will be the last one of training camp, to see the Tannehill versus Matt Moore competition for Friday's starting job.
Coach Joe Philbin today explained why starting Tannehill at some point this preseason makes sense:
"It would give him a chance to work with the first group in a game situation against better competition, and I think that would be good," Philbin said. "Our plan all along was at some point in time, whether it be this week, next week or the week after, our plan all along was to let all three of those guys have some opportunities. That's kind of what our thought was, so if it happens this week; obviously we have one more day of practice so we'll take a good look at it.
"Obviously we haven't sat down yet today but we'll start that in a few minutes, but we'll just evaluate this week. He's going to play a lot, Matt's (Moore) going to play a lot, and Pat (Devlin) will probably play some, we have three guys. We'll take it from there."
Moore and Tannehill talked to reporters today. Here is what they said:
Quarterback Matt Moore
(On his reaction to wide receiver Chad Johnson being released) –"I don't know. I don't think I can speak much on it. I knew it was a possibility. It's up to the organization and Coach (Joe) Philbin and they handled it the way they saw fit."
(On the competition between wide receivers Roberto Wallace and Marlon Moore) – "It's good. Those guys are working their tails off. Each making plays when they get the opportunities and trying to showcase their talents. It's been fun to watch. (They are) both talented guys and it'll be interesting to see how that kind of shakes out."
(On the cohesiveness of the offensive line) – "Yeah, they've done well, just with the new offense and everything. They've done really well. They are such a tight group anyways. It's kind of one of those things (where) one guy goes down and another guy step right in and we don't miss a beat. They've done a good job in the room."
(On when he expects to hear if he will start on Friday against the Carolina Panthers) – "I don't know."
(On if the announcement of whether he will be starting against the Panthers affects his preparation for the game) – "No, not at all. It's one of those things, just be ready. I'm like a reliever. They need me; I'll come in and play."
(On if he's interested in seeing what quarterback Ryan Tannehill will do against the starters) –"Football's football. It doesn't matter who he's playing against. He's got to go out and produce regardless."
(On if being a veteran helps him have a leg up to be a starter based on coach Philbin's statement that he will start the best person for a game on that day) –"Maybe. I don't know. These are interesting questions. Yeah, because I've had the experience, maybe, but I don't feel that way. I mean he's going to do what's best for the team, who's going to give us the best chance to win like he said in any given game and that guy will play."
(On how it has helped him get extra reps in practice with quarterback David Garrard being injured)– "Yeah, the reps are good. You want to see and prepare in this offense as much as you can. You want to see as many defenses as you can. Our defense is definitely throwing a lot at us, but we miss David, but you love getting the opportunities for more throws and more opportunities to do well."
(On Garrard's health and how he's handling things)– "He's doing good. He's obviously a little bummed out, but he's doing everything he can, just rehab wise and he's a professional, I'm sure he'll handle it the best way."
And after Moore was done speaking, Tannehill talked to a huddle of reporters:
(On Joe Philbin saying that he will start the quarterback in the first regular season game based on who gives the team the best chance to win on that day) –"I don't know. It's not up to me to decide, but I'm just going to go out here every day (and) try to do the things I can do to make this team better. (I) try to improve my game as much as I can every day and, hopefully, when it comes that time, I'm that guy. I want this team to win, so if I'm not the best guy at that time, I want this team to win."
(On if he has been told what his role on Friday against the Carolina Panthers) – "No, I have not. I'm just coming out here every day like I said. Just working to get better, try to take advantage of these preseason games. When you get in, get your reps, try to take advantage of them. Don't know exactly when they're going to come, but just want to take advantage of them when they come."
(On if he thinks starting the game will give him a better opportunity to show what he can do) – "I just try to take advantage of those reps. If I get one reps in practice, try to make the most of it. You get the better looks from the one defense, tougher looks. So if I get the one reps in the game, then I'll try to take advantage of them. It's a balancing act. Coach Philbin wants all the QBs to get some one reps. Whenever my time comes, just got to take advantage of it."
(On if he feels like he has improved since the start of training camp) – "I dang sure hope so. It's a waste of time if I haven't improved. I feel like I've gotten better every day. Still making mistakes, yes, but I feel like I'm learning form my mistakes, getting a better handle, more comfortable with the guys being able to move the ball down the field. Try to get a little bit better every day in every aspect of the game and, to answer your question, yes, I think I've improved a little bit."
(On how comfortable he is checking out of plays at the line of scrimmage) – "I'm pretty comfortable. That's a big part of our offense is being able to get into a good play at the line. See a lot of looks in this league from defenses. You want to be able to get into a good look. Sometimes, you are not going to have the best play called for what they come out in, so got to be able to get in a good look and there's also some instances you have to live with it. You've got to call a play fast, play with tempo and run the play that's called."
(On how impressed he is with the offensive line) –"They've done a great job. I don't think I had too much pressure today in practice at all. I was able to really sit in the pocket, make some throws, get to some late progressions, third progressions. I feel like they've done a great job. They're getting better. I think Jonathan Martin has really improved throughout camp. He seems to be getting more comfortable within the right side with his sets. It's a great unit and I think they're getting better."
(On if he feels he gets overconfident at times)– "I'm confident, but I don't want to be overconfident. That can be a bad thing for a quarterback. You start forcing balls, trusting your arm too much and you're not really able to fit it into that window and you try too. It's something where you really have to know yourself, be honest with yourself and know when you can get the ball in there and when you can't."
(On what quarterback Matt Moore is like as a person that he's going up against every day in practice)– "Matt's a fun guy. I enjoy coming to meetings. I enjoy practicing with him. He's a good guy. He helps me out. I try to help him out. I said all along it's a great competition. Even with Dave (Garrard) in there, we're all trying to help each other out. We'll all have fun in our meetings. We try to learn, soak up all the information we can, but have fun with it. It's a long season. It's a long camp, so got to have a little bit of fun in there. We try to laugh a little bit in our room and laugh on the field. Matt's a great guy. Pat (Devlin) as well. We have a great room."
(On being nicknamed "The People's Choice")– "The people's choice? I don't know about that. That's not what I say."
(On if he's going to watch Hard Knocks tonight)– "I probably won't. I didn't really watch it last week, so I probably won't watch it tonight."


text:
$25 Billion and Counting
By Eileen Kinsella Posted 05/01/08 12:00 am
Auction sales are what one dealer calls the "visible part of the iceberg." But how big is the rest of it? According to dealers, auction house experts, and other advisers, the private art market is exponentially larger—fueled by increasing demand from Russia, Asia, the Middle East, and other emerging markets. Read More


text:
Duquesne Captures First A-10 Women's Cross Country Title
Related Links
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. – The Duquesne Dukes captured the 2013 Atlantic 10 Women's Cross Country Championship Saturday morning with 53 points and an average time of 17:28.90. Bethany Sachtleben of George Mason was the individual winner with a time of 16:54.6. The Women's 5K race was held at Pole Green Park and hosted by the University of Richmond.
The Dukes finished with six competitors in the top 20, including Amber Valimont, Haley Pisarcik and Valerie Palermo who all finished in the top 10 to help collect the first A-10 title in Duquesne history.
Duquesne coach Tom Slosky won Coach of the Year honors for the Dukes and Marisa Ruskan of Richmond was named Most Outstanding Rookie as the top freshman finisher (8th place).
The Spiders finished second with an average time of 17:34.06 and 73 points with the help of Jill Prentice's second-place finish. La Salle took third with 118 points and an average time of 17:55.12, while Saint Louis followed in fourth with 119 points and an average time of 17:51.48. Massachusetts rounded out the top five with 152 points and an average time of 18:07.40.
With a score of 154 and an average time of 18:06.74, Saint Joseph's finished sixth. Dayton came in seventh with 163 points, while George Mason followed in eighth with 200 points. Fordham and Rhode Island rounded out the top 10 with ninth and tenth finishes, respectively. St. Bonaventure and VCU took the final two spots.
Along with Sachtleben, Valimont, Pisarcik, Palermo, Ruskan and Prentice, Margo Richardson (Saint Louis), Tara Hanley (Richmond), Michelle Capozzi (La Salle), Jessica Hoefert (Saint Louis), Nicole Cargill (Dayton), Elizabeth Barrett (St. Joe's), Kerry Caher (St. Bonaventure), Paige Ethier (Rhode Island) and Annika Gomell (Saint Louis) were all named to the 2013 Atlantic 10 All-Conference team.
2013 Atlantic 10 Conference
Women's Cross Country Championship Awards
Coach of the Year
Tom Slosky, Duquesne
Most Outstanding Performer
Bethany Sachtleben, George Mason
Rookie of the Year
Marisa Ruskan, Richmond
All-Conference Team
Bethany Sachtleben, George Mason
Jill Prentice, Richmond
Margo Richardson, Saint Louis
Amber Valimont, Duquesne
Tara Hanley, Richmond
Haley Pisarcik, Duquesne
Michelle Capozzi, La Salle
Marisa Ruskan, Richmond
Jessica Hoefert, Saint Louis
Valerie Palermo, Duquesne
Nicole Cargill, Dayton
Elizabeth Barrett, Saint Joseph's
Kerry Caher, St. Bonaventure
Paige Ethier, Rhode Island
Annika Gomell, Saint Louis


text:
Open Book Publicity Home Page
about us
past projects
"Leslie's and Emily's professionalism, creativity, and unending perseverance make Open Book Publicity one of the best in the business. Their A+ results have always kept me coming back to Open Book Publicity for years and still counting. Highly recommended."
—Marilyn Ducksworth, former Senior Vice President, Executive Director of Publicity for Penguin Putnam Inc and Riverhead Books
our bookshelves
pen Book is a boutique, literary publicity firm that specializes in creating
tailored to each book and author and designed to generate extensive media coverage and word-of-mouth. Open Book Publicity conceives and implements national publicity campaigns for today's leading publishers and authors of adult and young adult fiction and non-fiction, cookbooks, politics, parenting, education, how-to and history, among other genres. We do not represent self published books. We have offices in both the Bay Area and Boston and our outreach covers the nation
Website Designed
for Your Business