CENTER RING: National media sits on the second floor for Casey Anthony’s trial.
ORLANDO — Step right up to the biggest media circus since O.J.
The Casey Anthony murder trial was expected to draw a lot of public interest. But in the past few weeks, TV news “rock stars” are starting to show up at the courthouse here saying they want to witness the jury’s reaction to the testimony for themselves.
So far, Geraldo Rivera has flown in twice. Greta Van Susteren made a quick appearance, along with Judge Jeanine Pirro, who has now become a regular trial watcher for Fox News.
Then, there’s the popular TV judge Alex Ferrer — an ex-cop and former prosecutor — who watches the trial largely from a media screening room and comments for cable news.
Yesterday, HLN’s Jane Velez Mitchell showed up, with women going gaga over her in the ladies’ room.
Some of the people waiting on line to get into court each day have as much interest in seeing their favorite TV news stars — touching them, shaking their hands and taking photos with them — as they do in the actual trial. It’s weird.
Witnesses are already demanding money for interviews. Everyone involved wants to cash in.
Some key people have made it clear to Nancy Grace’s producers and others that they will not talk without compensation.
Trial watchers at home don’t even realize that all the famous TV people are not down front but have been hidden up in the rafters of the courtroom on a second-floor balcony. Yes, this trial is being held in a two-story courtroom, like the one in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Before the start of the trial, court administrators made the strategic decision to keep the national media seated up in the balcony, I’m told, so that the jury would not become distracted by seeing people like Rivera and Van Susteren and Grace.
It’s crazy, but in the interest of justice, the national media are stuck in the courtroom’s cheap seats. Sometimes, we have trouble hearing the witnesses. Other times, we must rely on monitors rigged up in front of us to get close-up views of people’s faces — as if we’re at a rock concert.
The ratings frenzy caught some news organizations by surprise.
CBS stopped sending a reporter to court shortly after opening arguments last month and gave back its assigned courtroom seat. Apparently, the network didn’t think it’d be needing it anymore.
On the opening day of trial, Rivera figured out a way to exchange seats with a local reporter to have a front-row seat for the defense’s opening argument. Rivera is, so far, the only national journalist who has been afforded this privilege.
Everyone else is either seated up top, or they have chosen to watch the trial from the comfort of their trailers (where you will find Grace).
Of course, in fairness, Grace got the ball rolling on this mammoth story three years ago, and she has producers sitting in court typing every word of the drama to their BlackBerrys.
In many respects, she’s earned not having to be subjected to very strict court rules that prohibit whispering, passing notes, slouching or making facial expressions of any kind. It’s like we’re all in a strange boot camp.
Even Pirro felt the wrath of the court a few days ago when a deputy warned her that she would lose her balcony seat if she asked ABC News’ Ashleigh Banfield one more question. And this was before court was officially called to order that morning.
— Aphrodite Jones is the author of eight true crime books and the host of the ID (Investigation Discovery) series “True Crime.”