David Carr writes about the media...

...every Monday in the Business section of the New York Times. I'm rarely interested in the subject matter of the column, but I never fail to read it because Carr is such a good writer.

Today's is about Nancy Grace (above), a former prosecutor who hosts a show along the lines of "America's Most Wanted." (I saw her interviewed on television once.) According to Carr:

...Ms. Grace came by her victimhood honestly when her fiancé, Keith Griffin, was killed when she was just 19. In her book “Objection,” Ms. Grace suggested that a stranger with a criminal record shot Mr. Griffin outside a convenience store, was arrested and denied any involvement. By her recollection, she had to sit through three days of agonizing deliberation and then the prosecutor asked her if the defendant should be given the death penalty. She said no, she had no stomach for it.

The New York Observer fact-checked her written account and discovered that Mr. Griffin was killed by a former co-worker with no criminal record who confessed to the crime immediately. At trial, he was convicted within hours and the prosecution did in fact ask for the death penalty, but was denied. Ms. Grace explained the variance by telling The Observer, “I have tried not to think about it.”