It was shortly after one p.m. eastern time on Friday June 8 when cable viewers witnessed a scene that was part paparazzi, part “Cops,” and part “Entertainment Tonight.”
A handcuffed Paris Hilton was deposited into sheriff’s car #865 for a trip back to court where Judge Michael Sauer would send her back to jail after her sudden and early release the day before. The spectacle of cameras trained on the car winding its way slowly through the Los Angeles streets was, in a way, strangely reminiscent of O.J. Simpson’s slow-speed car chase 13 years earlier.
Hilton managed to evade the waiting press hordes on her return to the courthouse, but that did not chill their ardor. “The media frenzy is wild,” declared CNN’s entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.
Paris Hilton’s problems represented only the second celebrity tabloid tale this year—the first being Anna Nicole Smith’s death—to make the roster of top five stories, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index from June 3-8. The saga of socialite/party girl Hilton’s release and return to prison after serving a few days of what had been a 23-day sentence for violating drunk driving probation was the fifth biggest story of the week, filling 4% of the newshole.
The Hilton tale was covered most heavily in cable (third biggest story at 9%) and on radio (fourth story at 7%). And the bulk of the attention came late in the week. For the two days of June 7 and 8, Hilton generated 10% of the overall coverage, filling 18% of the radio and 21% of the cable airtime.
Cable’s attraction to the story was clearly illustrated by MSNBC on June 8. Declaring “here’s Paris Hilton now,” anchor Contessa Brewer abruptly cut away from a discussion of the retirement of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace to the scene at Hilton’s home as she prepared for her ride back to court.
Jon Stewart addressed this Monday night on The Daily Show.
Last Thursday, he had this bit:
"You know, a lotta people may be wondering, 'What are they gonna do about that Paris Hilton thing? They gonna cover that Paris Hilton thing?' No, we're not gonna cover that Paris Hilton thing. Although we did discuss if we had covered it, what might be the possible, shall we say, over-the-shoulder pun in which we would perhaps poke subtle fun at the heiress.
"So just to let you know while we will not be covering this issue, if you at home happen to have your own news program that you run out of your house, you might want to go with Shawskank Redemption."
It might be time to remind ourselves of the Great AP Experiment.