Trial of interest

There was a sinking feeling last week when CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC all trained their cameras on a California street to catch Michael Jackson returning from a lunch break during jury selection at his molestation trial.

Is this what the next few months are going to be like?

Many in television insist not. While they expect Jackson’s upcoming trial to be newsworthy, they don’t see it becoming a national obsession and don’t expect to cover it as such.

“It’s certainly not going to dominate our air, not the way that O.J. did and not when you think of all the other things that we’re dealing with as a nation, like terrorism, the state of the war, the tsunami,” said Mark Effron, vice president of news and daytime programming at MSNBC.

Jackson may be one of the world’s biggest stars, but there are several reasons why TV programmers aren’t anticipating a case that will grab interest like Simpson’s murder trial, or even Scott Peterson’s.

One is simple logistics. With cameras not allowed, viewers can’t get engrossed in the action themselves or see compelling characters like Johnnie Cochran or Judge Ito develop.

Message devices like Blackberrys won’t be allowed either, eliminating a trick used to keep television viewers up-to-date when cameras were not permitted in the Peterson case, said Marlene Dann, executive vice president of daytime programming for Court TV.

“Because there are no cameras in the courtroom, it’s going to lack a certain sizzle,” said Jonathan Klein, CNN chief executive. “A lot of the buzz is going to be manufactured rather than real. Therefore, you might see a dwindling of interest.”

Larry King likely will cover it more than anybody else on CNN. Nancy Grace is starting a legal-oriented talk show on CNN Headline News, and she has a keen interest in the case, he said.

“It hasn’t been at the forefront of our minds,” Klein said. “We’ll give it the attention it deserves.”

Fox News Channel, whose Geraldo Rivera scored an exclusive pretrial interview with Jackson, declined to talk about coverage plans.

Dan Abrams will be covering the trial for his nightly MSNBC legal show but doesn’t expect to offer a steady diet.

While many viewers could relate to Laci and Scott Peterson as personalities and become engrossed in a murder mystery, that’s not the case with the oddball Jackson, he said. And Jackson’s accuser is remaining anonymous.

“The interest in this case purely stems from the fact that Michael Jackson is so famous,” Abrams said. “That, in and of itself, doesn’t sustain interest in a trial over a long period of time.”

Then there’s the “yuck factor.” Molestation is repellent and certainly doesn’t promote water-cooler talk, Klein said. Besides, since such allegations have long dogged Jackson, there’s little shock value.

“There will be some interest in this case – don’t get me wrong – but there will not be the constant national fascination that we have seen in a lot of other trials,” Abrams said.

There might be more interest in the case internationally, almost like Jackson’s music is now more popular overseas than in his home country, said Court TV’s Dann.

Court TV correspondent Diane Dimond already has been interviewed by television stations in Germany, Japan and Spain, and Court TV has signed an agreement to offer exclusive trial coverage to Channel Five in England.

Even the syndicated entertainment news programs seem reluctant to jump on the Jackson bandwagon.

“The Jackson trial will not hijack ‘Access Hollywood,’ ” said Rob Silverstein, that broadcast’s executive producer. “There are other things going on in the world of entertainment.”

The nightly show won’t necessarily cover the trial if there’s not much going on, he said. “Access Hollywood” does, however, plan to cover the coverage of the trial, holding up a mirror if it becomes a media circus.

“We’re going to be smart, we’re going to be aggressive and not go over the top,” Silverstein said. “We’re not going to be searching for some former housekeeper who met Michael once and put her on the air.”

He took notice that syndicated entertainment show ratings did not show any appreciable increase when all the programs devoted a good deal of time to the beginning of jury selection. Similarly, a CBS “48 Hours Investigates” report that featured an interview with Jackson’s parents drew nearly a million fewer viewers than the newsmagazine has had on average this season, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In other words, if there’s great public interest in the case, it hasn’t manifested itself yet.

But things change. Some dramatic testimony from Jackson, a few unexpected revelations, and the spotlight can become brighter.

At this point, Silverstein isn’t surprised to hear many news executives talking conservatively about Jackson trial coverage.

“I think people will say that,” he said. “And we’ll see if they can help themselves.”