Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Mommy Factor

For those of you who are not watching Open Season and Garfield 24/7, you probably heard about the whole Caylee case a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago.

Well, that's what happens when you become a mom and surrender your right to the outside world of CNN for Boog and Elliot.

I just (honestly, just today, like five minutes ago) heard about this horrendous case, which started out as a missing person case. For those of you stuck in cartoon world like me, I'll recap (quickly before Dora comes back on!)

Caylee Anthony, an adorable two-year-old from Florida, was reported missing last summer. Her mother claimed to be looking for her and desperate to find her. Now, most likely due to the ridiculous number of mothers pleading for their kids and then being found to be the culprit, I doubt I would have believed her from the outset. (Sorry mom's who are in that desperate situation--I don't ever want to be in your shoes, but I won't believe a word you say until you are cleared as a suspect.)

Obviously, after a search and lots of information coming up from family and friends, it was discovered the story was not adding up. The mom was eventually charged with murder and more recently, the girls remains were found.

I have two reasons for writing about this--One-as a PR writer, please don't assume your audience already knows the background info. Yes, I too get annoyed when reading a news story where the last half is all recap that EVERYONE should already know. (Hello! Where've you been? Mars? No, I've been in the land of Tigger & Pooh.) But I see now why this is so important.

The reverse pyramid is a wonderful format for getting info out quick--the newest and most relevant first (for those in the know) and the back story at the bottom for people like me. That way everyone else can just quit reading.

The second reason for writing about this story is that if you look at the website I linked to at the top, they have an ENORMOUS amount of informaiton on this story. There are links to phone conversations, video clips, court documents. One could easily spend all day reading and catching up on this story. The paper's format for quick, easy-access clips and info make it easy to get sucked in and bogged down in the site for far longer than one may have planned.

Why is this so ingenious? The longer you are on their site, the more ads you see. The more ads you see, the more they can charge their advertisers. Very smart plan.

2 comments:

  1. I have been following the Caylee story for some time now. I find it unbelieveable how a mother can even think of doing what she has done, let alone do it.

    What I want to know is what is taking so long for a trial. I most certainly hope she is not making money off all the press, etc. she's been receiving.

    This case needs to get to trial and give her the death sentence or life in prison. Something needs to be done soon and not continually dragged out. She needs to pay the price for her crime. Caylee was a beautiful little girl.

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  2. I have heard about this case, but probably not as much as others. My fiance did fallow this case very closely and with every moment she saw the mother of Caylee she hated her more and more. That brought this case to my attention, wanting to know why she disliked the mother of Caylee so much. I have heard many of the particulars of what you have said in your blog, and I have also heard a few extras from reading about it in the paper and hearing about it from my fiance. I do not understand how a mother of a child could feel the way that Caylee's mother did and does about this case. I am a male so I will never know the attachment that mothers have with their unborn child, but I can about imagine the bond between the two. After 9 months of back breaking movements and to have such a Godly creation come from within would just be unbelievable. I will never understand the mother of this story.

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