Greta Van Susteren Cleans Up in Aruba


Aug 7, 9:13 PM (ET)

By DAVID BAUDER



NEW YORK (AP) - Bringing a microphone and camera crew to the gates of an
Aruba landfill this past week, Greta Van Susteren returned to the island
that her nightly Fox News Channel program has figuratively called home
recently. Van Susteren's "On the Record" has relentlessly followed the
mysterious disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama while on
a graduation trip to Aruba in May.

Critics find it an obsession bordering on the bizarre, twisting traditional
notions of news judgment and becoming Exhibit A in the media's fascination
with missing people - as long as they happen to be young, white, female and
pretty.

But while doing this, Van Susteren has been rewarded with her biggest
audiences since making the switch from CNN three years ago.

She averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers a night in July, up 58 percent from
the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN's Aaron
Brown used to put up a tough fight in the time slot; now Van Susteren
routinely triples his audience. She narrowly missed 3 million on July 26,
her biggest audience this year.

"On the Record" even topped Fox's prime-time king "The O'Reilly Factor"
eight times, although Bill O'Reilly was off on four of those nights.

"I'm always happy when the viewers are happy," Van Susteren said. "I
obviously don't program for the people in the newsroom or my friends or the
people I went to law school with. I program for the viewers."

It's not just Nielsen that confirms interest in the Holloway story. Van
Susteren said she spends an hour or two a day combing through e-mails from
viewers on the case, and they often supply her with good questions.

The mystery plays to her strengths as a lawyer.

"For me, it's sort of an intellectual challenge," she said. "Where is she?
How did she disappear? Did somebody drop a date rape drug in her drink? Did
she walk off? Is this not really a homicide but a missing person? ... I
could go on. These are fascinating to me and they're obviously fascinating
to the viewers."

Desperate to learn what happened to Natalee, the Holloway family has been
grateful for the interest and available to help fill hours of airtime.

"Greta has gone above and beyond to publicize this case and keep people
interested," said Paul Reynolds, Natalee's uncle. "Getting involved the way
she has been is an incredible effort. She's keeping people interested and
keeping people looking."

The Aruban government hasn't been happy with all the coverage, believing
much of it makes the authorities look amateurish and unprofessional, but Van
Susteren has government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg's respect. "Even though
she is aggressive, she will try to get both sides of a story," he said.

The case has all the elements of a classic summer page-turner: the
bright-eyed girl whose search for fun may have gone horribly wrong, a
privileged Dutch boy who saw her before she disappeared but claims
innocence, authorities following several hot and cold leads.

Without being a regular, tuning into Van Susteren's show many nights is like
opening up a mystery novel in the middle.

It's all a little baffling to those who didn't buy the book.

"I think she's registered to vote in Aruba now," joked NBC News reporter
Josh Mankiewicz, who narrated a "Dateline NBC" report examining why
television networks pay an inordinate amount of attention to missing white
women.

With war and terrorism in the news, critics wonder how one missing person
case can so dominate a news program. Even on the night President Bush
nominated John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, "On the Record" spent far
more time on Holloway.

Her name came up 178 times during a computer search of "On the Record"
transcripts from the past two months, only seven times for the same period
on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on MSNBC. The count was 434 times for Fox's
three prime-time news shows; 50 for CNN's.

"Emotional pornography like the Natalee Holloway story is more alluring,
just as a car crash is better TV than a news conference," said Matthew
Felling of the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs. "But
this media rubbernecking is partly to blame for the public's dissatisfaction
in the media as a newsgathering enterprise."

Two views on how to program a cable news network couldn't be displayed more
starkly: Either use news judgment to put events into perspective, or give
the people what they want, said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for
Excellence in Journalism.

It's hard to say whether Van Susteren's ratings grew because she spent more
time on the case or whether she spent more time on the case because the
ratings grew, said Bill Shine, Fox News Channel's vice president of
production.

Probably a little of both, he said.

"I don't know what you're doing this weekend, say you're at a beach or in
the deli, but what do you think people are going to ask you - what do you
think is going to happen with the Roberts nomination next month or what's
going on with that story in Aruba?" Shine said. "I think my money would be
on Aruba."

Rosenstiel concedes he can't understand the intense interest in the Holloway
story. "It's just a classic tabloid story that they're milking and if that's
the way you want to make your living, fine," he said.

Criticism of cable networks for a slavish devotion to a story, whether it
merits the attention or not, is nothing new; just insert the names Chandra
Levy or Laci Peterson for Holloway. One of many reasons why Fox has been
able to soundly beat CNN in the ratings with a considerably smaller news
staff is that viewers respond more to this approach.

"Maybe part of their brilliance is they're not as guilt-ridden about it,"
Rosenstiel said.

---

Associated Press writer Peter Prengaman contributed to this report.

Greta Van Susteren Cleans Up in Aruba


Aug 7, 9:13 PM (ET)

By DAVID BAUDER



NEW YORK (AP) - Bringing a microphone and camera crew to the gates of an
Aruba landfill this past week, Greta Van Susteren returned to the island
that her nightly Fox News Channel program has figuratively called home
recently. Van Susteren's "On the Record" has relentlessly followed the
mysterious disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama while

a graduation trip to Aruba in May.

Critics find it an obsession bordering on the bizarre, twisting

notions of news judgment and becoming Exhibit A in the media's fascination
with missing people - as long as they happen to be young, white, female

pretty.

But while doing this, Van Susteren has been rewarded with her biggest
audiences since making the switch from CNN three years ago.

She averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers a night in July, up 58 percent

the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN's

Brown used to put up a tough fight in the time slot; now Van Susteren
routinely triples his audience. She narrowly missed 3 million on July 26,
her biggest audience this year.

"On the Record" even topped Fox's prime-time king "The O'Reilly Factor"
eight times, although Bill O'Reilly was off on four of those nights.

"I'm always happy when the viewers are happy," Van Susteren said. "I
obviously don't program for the people in the newsroom or my friends or

people I went to law school with. I program for the viewers."

It's not just Nielsen that confirms interest in the Holloway story. Van
Susteren said she spends an hour or two a day combing through e-mails from
viewers on the case, and they often supply her with good questions.

The mystery plays to her strengths as a lawyer.

"For me, it's sort of an intellectual challenge," she said. "Where is she?
How did she disappear? Did somebody drop a date rape drug in her drink?

she walk off? Is this not really a homicide but a missing person? ... I
could go on. These are fascinating to me and they're obviously fascinating
to the viewers."

Desperate to learn what happened to Natalee, the Holloway family has been
grateful for the interest and available to help fill hours of airtime.

"Greta has gone above and beyond to publicize this case and keep people
interested," said Paul Reynolds, Natalee's uncle. "Getting involved the

she has been is an incredible effort. She's keeping people interested and
keeping people looking."

The Aruban government hasn't been happy with all the coverage, believing
much of it makes the authorities look amateurish and unprofessional, but

Susteren has government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg's respect. "Even though
she is aggressive, she will try to get both sides of a story," he said.

The case has all the elements of a classic summer page-turner: the
bright-eyed girl whose search for fun may have gone horribly wrong, a
privileged Dutch boy who saw her before she disappeared but claims
innocence, authorities following several hot and cold leads.

Without being a regular, tuning into Van Susteren's show many nights is

opening up a mystery novel in the middle.

It's all a little baffling to those who didn't buy the book.

"I think she's registered to vote in Aruba now," joked NBC News reporter
Josh Mankiewicz, who narrated a "Dateline NBC" report examining why
television networks pay an inordinate amount of attention to missing white
women.

With war and terrorism in the news, critics wonder how one missing person
case can so dominate a news program. Even on the night President Bush
nominated John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, "On the Record" spent

more time on Holloway.

Her name came up 178 times during a computer search of "On the Record"
transcripts from the past two months, only seven times for the same period
on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on MSNBC. The count was 434 times for

three prime-time news shows; 50 for CNN's.

"Emotional pornography like the Natalee Holloway story is more alluring,
just as a car crash is better TV than a news conference," said Matthew
Felling of the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs. "But
this media rubbernecking is partly to blame for the public's

in the media as a newsgathering enterprise."

Two views on how to program a cable news network couldn't be displayed

starkly: Either use news judgment to put events into perspective, or give
the people what they want, said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project

Excellence in Journalism.

It's hard to say whether Van Susteren's ratings grew because she spent

time on the case or whether she spent more time on the case because the
ratings grew, said Bill Shine, Fox News Channel's vice president of
production.

Probably a little of both, he said.

"I don't know what you're doing this weekend, say you're at a beach or in
the deli, but what do you think people are going to ask you - what do you
think is going to happen with the Roberts nomination next month or what's
going on with that story in Aruba?" Shine said. "I think my money would be
on Aruba."

Rosenstiel concedes he can't understand the intense interest in the

story. "It's just a classic tabloid story that they're milking and if

the way you want to make your living, fine," he said.

Criticism of cable networks for a slavish devotion to a story, whether it
merits the attention or not, is nothing new; just insert the names Chandra
Levy or Laci Peterson for Holloway. One of many reasons why Fox has been
able to soundly beat CNN in the ratings with a considerably smaller news
staff is that viewers respond more to this approach.

"Maybe part of their brilliance is they're not as guilt-ridden about it,"
Rosenstiel said.

---

Associated Press writer Peter Prengaman contributed to this report.


--
U.S.A.F. VET.
3rd LES CAB, PI