1 000 journos for Jacko's case
2005-02-01 10:00
Santa Maria, California - When Michael Jackson showed up at the start of his child abuse trial on Monday, more than 1 000 reporters and cameramen jostled to catch a shot or at least a glimpse of the superstar.
As hundreds of hardcore fans cheered the "King of Pop," photographers perched atop ladders inside designated pens and cameramen teetered on elevated platforms to record the white-clad star's every wave.
Print reporters meanwhile squatted on the ground tapping on their laptop computers, spreading word of the spectacle across the globe.
Hordes of media representatives from all over the world have descended on Santa Maria, a usually quiet city of 85 000 nestled in the rolling hills of central California's wine country.
A total of 1 100 reporters, photographers, cameramen and technicians from Japan, Mexico, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands and from across the United States have been accredited to report on the celebrity trial of the century.
Strict judge
Most had to wait in line for several hours to get accreditation passes to access to the courthouse, where proceedings are likely to continue for around six months.
Network television anchors rolled into town with suitcases full of clothes and make-up, bringing with then a cast of former legal officials-turned-TV pundits to commentate on developments.
Two dozen satellite trucks bearing the networks' logos are encamped outside the courthouse, and their owners are dishing out $400 a day for the privilege of parking them.
A coalition of media groups that have been covering the case for the past year could end up having to pay up to $800 000 to Santa Barbara County to defray the trial costs, including extra policing and upgrades to the court to accommodate the media invasion, the Los Angeles Times said.
But only the chosen few get to sit in the courtroom with Jackson. Because most of 122 seats in the public gallery are taken up by prospective jurors, a pool of only seven journalists sits in the courtroom.
Once a 12-strong jury has been selected, more media representatives will be allowed in, the trial judge has said.
Another 55 media representatives are following the trial from an "overflow" room where proceedings are transmitted on a monitor.
Television networks have their own legal analysts, most of whom draw comparisons with the last mega-celebrity trial, the 1994 case against OJ Simpson, which had Americans glued to their TV screens for months until the football star was acquitted of charges he murdered his ex-wife and her lover.
But Judge Rodney Melville has banned tape recorders and TV cameras from his courtroom.
He has also imposed a gag order on Jackson, his accusers as well as prosecutors and police to avoid turning the proceedings into a trial by media.