Rebecca Neumann
Staff Writer

Yesterday, my dad called me into the study to ask me a question and pointed out an article about the death penalty. While reading it, I noticed something interesting.

The article was about this woman who allegedly murdered her two-year-old daughter and how she was standing trial. The prosecution wanted to try for the death penalty and the article pretty much listed the reasons why.

At the bottom of the article, and the thing that caught my attention, was a statement saying that some money was recently given to the mother and that went into the decision to prosecute her, because she had enough money to hire a defense.

What horrified me was that the article went on to say that ABC News had given the woman the bulk of the money.

What I’m trying desperately to understand is two things. One, why would ABC News possibly do that? It must have been driven by a need for the publicity of the trial, because I can’t imagine any other reason. Two, why is this not a bigger deal? Why is no one else approaching the subject of this complete violation of journalistic ethics?

Journalists are not supposed to be involved in a story at all, much less facilitating one. ABC News should take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and reconsider that it means to be journalists.

To see the article, visit:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/13/casey.anthony.death.penalty/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn