Cable's most important story just collided with its favorite sensational story.
A judge dismissing charges against Kobe Bryant, hours before Dick Cheney is to address the nation.
_____More Media Notes_____
•
Is Kerry Sinking? (washingtonpost.com, Sep 1, 2004)
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Sister Act (washingtonpost.com, Sep 1, 2004)
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Convention Viewers Flock to Fox (washingtonpost.com, Aug 31, 2004)
•
Apple Slices: Stalking Rove (washingtonpost.com, Aug 31, 2004)
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Terror Redux (washingtonpost.com, Aug 31, 2004)
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Close call?
I can just see television execs thinking: Ah, Cheney isn't that exciting a speaker anyway. And he's ONLY vice president.
Kobe, after all, is one of the most famous athletes in the world. The young woman's accusations against him received a tidal wave of publicity. They were ready for jury selection. This is a slam-dunk, if you'll forgive me, a bombshell of a story. "A fiasco, a disaster," Jeff Toobin is saying on CNN.
But it also erupts just as the third night of the Republican convention is getting under way. A decidedly unscripted moment against the backdrop of an extremely scripted political event.
Obviously, the networks will carry Cheney tonight.
And I doubt they'll be asking delegates what they think about the Bryant dismissal (okay, maybe in the California delegation). But the veep no longer controls the spotlight, and he'll be competing for space with the Lakers star on tomorrow's front pages.
Not since Dick Morris's call girl problems popped on the morning that Bill Clinton was to give his acceptance speech at the '96 convention in Chicago has there been this kind of last-minute tabloid distraction at a national political convention.
I bet this isn't a tough choice for ESPN.
