The Murder Business: How the Media Turns Crime Into Entertainment and Subverts Justice
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Author: Mark Fuhrman
- Publisher: Regnery Press
- Release Date: October 2009
- ISBN-10: 1596985844
- ISBN-13: 9781596985841
- List Price: $27.95
Price Comparisons
E-mail these Cheap Book Prices to a friend!
| Store | Price | Condition | Free Shipping? | Online Coupons and Deals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $15.84 as of 11/21 6pm EST | Used | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $17.07 as of 11/21 6pm EST | New | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Alibris | $17.67 as of 11/21 6pm EST | New | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $18.45 as of 11/21 6pm EST | New | YES, spend $25+ |
| |||
| TextbookX | $20.12 as of 11/21 8am EST | New | YES, spend $49+ |
| |||
| Alibris | $34.44 as of 11/21 6pm EST | Used | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| button not working? Click Here | |||||||
Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryCrime stories fascinate the public. But between factual news stories, overblown “human interest” reports and salacious murder mystery exposés, it’s difficult to tell where news ends and entertainment begins. Mark Fuhrman, best-selling author of Murder in Brentwood, explores this fine line and how it is increasingly being crossed, revealing new and shocking details on such highprofile cases as JonBenet Ramsey, Martha Moxley and Chandra Levy. In The Murder Business, Fuhrman argues that the media’s approach to covering crime (“if it bleeds, it leads”) has allowed many criminals to get away with murder and impeded the search for justice. The Murder Business presents a compelling plea for journalists, cops and citizens to demand higher ethical standards in the pursuit of justice. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Furman is greedy and he calls the media greedy..
Rating:
First, Furman is doing the very thing that has fueled his righteous indignation--he is profiting from the suffering of crime victims--he is greedy. I could care less about that, but he is being hypocritical. Or, perhaps he gains nothing from writing any book, which begs the question--Why bother to write?
Secondly, just like Furman's book, if the public did not crave sensational crime stories there would not be sensational crime stories. Without a demand (the public), there would be no supply (the public). We are complicit, and to claim otherwise is to be dishonest.
Finally, it seems preposterous for a man who committed perjury to be on any moral high horse, but Furman seems to have missed this.
I borrowed it instead of wasting $$ reading the Gospel According to a Convicted Felon. It was a good decision.
The Media Angle Isn't Even the Best Part
Rating:
Mark Fuhrman, someone I have long admired, has written a fascinating book. However, it's fascination is not so much in what Fuhrman has to say about media involvement in crime investigation and how it hurts police work but in his candid comments about the crimes he has investigated--crimes that have fascinated the public. Yes, he is absolutely spot on in his assessment of the role the media plays, but he could have gone even further with this, citing the prevalence and popularity of forensics shows as an influence on juries, who think murder cases should be proven in a half hour, without commercials. Juries today come to a trial with their own set of skills in analyzing forensic evidence, thanks to shows like "Cold Case Files," "The First 48," and "Forensic Files." Fuhrman could have touched on this a bit, but no matter. What makes this book so enjoyable is his insight into the death (murder) of Vince Foster, the behind-the-scenes look at the Simpson case, and the very improbable scenario that an intruder killed JonBenet Ramsey. All of the stories presented in this book are fascinating, leading to the conclusion that Fuhrman should follow this up with another, and fast.
A Departure From His Norm
Rating:
The book is readable, interesting and provides insight into how the media and law enforcement (do not) come together for the benefit of victims who are missing or murdered. Fuhrman recounts approximately 8 recent high-profile cases and shows how the media actually interfered with law enforcement and justice. The book is actually more about the media machine and how they exaggerate events for ratings. Fuhrman's previous books have pretty much dug up cold cases and shed light upon them, but this book doesn't do that - the focus is solely on the media. I actually prefer his other books - he does seem to be a master at detective work and coming up with various theories; hopefully his next book will return to that. This book, however, is still enjoyable and informative and a worthwhile read. The one negative is that he actually ends the book by talking about the OJ Simpson case, his former LAPD partner, and the whole OJ media fiasco. I think the OJ chapter should have been at the front of the book, or even the middle. By placing the Simpson chapter at the end of the book it's the last impression you're left with, and it dredges it all up again - it's better left alone. Still a good book and he's an excellent writer.
Media meddling is an unspoken fact that never gets addressed
Rating:
The biggest argument of facts to back up Mark Fuhrman's contention that the media has the power to change the outcome of a murder case is the OJ trial. I had no interest in the trial when it was being aired on national television, because I had a life and no desire to watch a bunch of over paid ego driven lawyers, over dramatize points of arguments. The utter contempt of Johnny Cochran to point his hypocritical finger in Mark Fuhrman's face and call him a racist, whilst he was being protected by the Nation of Islam was never reported. Why Marcia Clark didn't get a verifier of fact like Brad Roberts to back up Fuhrman's testimony was just plain stupid. Even news reporters verify facts before they report them, or at least their suppose to.
Nobody is perfect and that includes cops, but we sure need them and they risk their lives everyday to keep the rest of us safe. How a man can be labeled racist for play acting into a tape recorder for a play is beyond a stretch. What about the other people who uttered the same words as Det. Fuhrman did, yet we did not hear those utterances now did we. The case was doomed from the start when Vannatter didn't read Mark and Brad's murder scene notes and issued a general subpoena on Rockingham. That just gave the defense team time to clean up the house of the "real" evidence before the 2nd more specific subpoena was written and that's a fact annd not reported.
The letter that Brad Roberts wrote to the DA after the prelim and before the trial stating that he was the one who found the blood drops at Rockingham was another intentional act by Vannatter to protect himself by removing it from the evidence room and giving it back. The LADA can and has verified this fact. Then I saw Vannatter on national television calling Fuhrman a liar, which was another pompous attempt by a un-indicted perjurer who knows the truth and refuses to speak it.
Just as their case started to unravel, these people knew that Furhman was their scape goat. They destroyed a dedicated 20 year police officer's life and they didn't even care enough to listen to him or let him explain anything. Imagine the torture Det. Fuhrman went through being shut out and not given a voice or the opportunity to explain anything because Clark refused his attempts to speak with her. They just shut him out and threw him to the wolves. All to save their own arses!
It is also logical contention that when a child is murdered, the first people that are looked at, are the ones closest to the child. His belief that Patsy Ramsey and Casey Anthony come about statistically and logically.
He speaks the truth about the media's profit driven bottom line to get what the public demands. Some don't care if it changes the outcome of a trial. For example I had a former co-worker that was a reporter in LA and was dating one of the senior officers and got inside information on a murder case and what did she do, she reported it. No one else knew the information she was reporting except that it was new information. Don't think that station didn't benefit from her "inside" or should I say bedside information. Fuhrman's point is made right there because it landed my friend in the middle of this murder trial. A reporter who had nothing to do with that case except whom she knew and was dating. Reporters are suppose to report "the facts" and the story, not become the story.
This book is written for all of us to understand, the public, to understand the cop lingo, the angle of the story, the unknown angst of having info that you know could launch your career, whether you should keep it to yourself. It could make you a star in the 'first knower of information category' amongst your peers but Mark Fuhrman clearly demonstrated his loyalty to Justice, and not the profit margin or ratings, by keeping pertinent secret information to himself.
Buy this book, you will learn something and it's a good read and it's affordable.
[...]
Media Ethics 101: A Compelling Read
Rating:
Mark Fuhrman's "The Murder Business" deserves to be read by media hosts, media producers, media contributors, and media ethicists, as well as everyone who has ever felt compelled to follow a news story of a missing/murdered young person. It is a formidable contribution to the debate about media ethics, and the relationship between the media and law enforcement - what it is, and what it ought to be - based on Fuhrman's unique perspective stemming from his dual experience in law enforcement for 20 years and now himself a media contributor. As such, it weighs in with as much authority and insight as his bombshell of a book from a few years ago, "Death and Justice," about the death penalty. Ever wondered why it is that only a few, out of the thousands of missing persons each year, get the 24/7 "star" treatment by the media? Fuhrman lays out the answer: these vanished persons are deliberately selected by the media for their perceived appeal - which apparently means female, young, pretty, and white - as well as for their cast of friends and family who may provide plenty of entertaining TV segments; in other words, for ratings. But we rarely hear about the countless missing persons who, because of their age, gender and ethnicity, are not considered good story potential.
And Fuhrman points out additional issues where the media have been lacking in the ethics department: Media coverage should not obstruct the work of law enforcement or pollute a jury pool. At times the media spotlight has been so invasive and extensive that it has endangered the successful prosecution of a crime. At other times the media could have helped solve mysteries or kept public interest alive, but instead did little or caved in to political pressure.
Some people might ask how Fuhrman can be critical of media coverage of murder cases since he himself is part of the media, covering such cases for FOX News. But Fuhrman's book demonstrates how to cover them the way his professional experience has taught him is the right way: with a sense of ethics toward the investigation, collaboration with law enforcement, and responsibility toward the victim and his or her family - an approach that FOX has made possible for him to pursue in his investigative work for the news channel. Using some of the most high-profile murder cases in recent years as illustrations of shaky media ethics, such as the stories of Caylee Anthony and Stacy Peterson, the chapters quickly review the basic stories then reveal new details and treat us to previously unreported behind-the-scenes events.
Particularly riveting is the account of Fuhrman's encounter with Drew Peterson; and his comparison of a media journalist's disastrous interview with a suspect, with a genuine interrogation by a seasoned detective. These examples and others provide stunning insight into not only his own investigations, but also into the enormously influential powers of the media networks seeking to scoop stories before the others do. Inevitably, for those of us who have followed the O.J. Simpson criminal trial and read Fuhrman's own perspective in "Murder in Brentwood," the final chapters of "The Murder Business" are perhaps the most intriguing, and disturbing, because here we finally get to see, in print, the ugly story of why Fuhrman's partner, Brad Roberts - who could have been put on the witness stand, with the likely result of Simpson being convicted of murder - instead was excluded from the trial by the prosecution team, for self-serving reasons. A moot point now? Perhaps, but shouldn't we know how it really went down at an important turning point for U.S. jurisprudence? Thanks to "The Murder Business," we can now read the rest of the story.
BROWSE BY SUBJECT
- Audiobooks
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Health, Mind & Body
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel