Ever since King County Sheriff Dave Reichert's press conference last week, Ridgway's name and face have been the top story. Who can forget Ridgway's mug shot, those squinty and suspicious eyes, plastered all over the evening news and local newspapers? Or the current Seattle Times headlines that read "Case against Ridgway solid, sheriff says," and "Victims' families feel some comfort in arrest"? Ambitious television crews with 500-watt halogen lights camped in Ridgway's neighborhood, getting his friends and co-workers to indict out loud: "He was always nice, but odd."
Though the fascination with the Green River case is understandable, the media's coverage of Ridgway the Green River Killer, as opposed to Ridgway the suspect, could ruin a potentially innocent man's life. Ask Richard Jewell, the top suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic game bombings.
After three months of FBI scrutiny and constant media attention, Jewell was cleared. Jewell was also awarded $500,000 after suing NBC for comments made by Tom Brokaw after Jewell was announced as a suspect. But the damage was done. "There will be a non-healing scar that is always affixed to my name," Jewell told The New York Times.
In addition, at a time when President Bush is taking his popularity as a cue to scale back the rights of suspects (well over 1,000 Muslim men are being detained and could face secret trials that The New York Times called "the broadest move in American history to sweep aside Constitutional protections"), and at a time when our government has issued a dead-or-alive decree on a suspect without presenting hard evidence, it seems our most revered institutions are setting a precedent for blood lust, damaging America's long-standing idea of justice.
It's no surprise that local media is playing Ridgway as the Green River Killer--guilty before innocent. Considering President Bush's latest tactics, they're just playing follow the leader.
