The Court of Public Opinion

The Supreme Court has kept extremely busy this week serving as black-robed-counsel on decisions ranging from immigration to healthcare. Lost in the shuffle, however, was an important decision rendered mid-day Friday, June 29, regarding media ownership.

As reported locally by KNAU, the highest court in the land decided to "place limits on ownership of broadcast outlets and newspapers in local markets."

Hit squarely in the mouth were ownership groups across the country whose businesses would undoubtedly be affected by the decision.

Dizzying as the blow delivered by the court's gavel was, the Gannett Corporation, who own (locally) NBC 12 and The Arizona Republic, was dubiously unavailable for comment immediately thereafter.

Instead, the sound of crickets played loudly.

While other media outlets scrambled for a response and any semblance of a sound bite by the affected parties, the Gannett Corporation played dead. The phone rang ... and media relations experts at Gannett coyly shrugged their shoulders.

Surely, it would extend past a clever exercise in wordplay to assume that Gannett's in-house public relations team was caught snoozing in the outhouse.

I yield my gavel now as blog author in handing down two rulings of my own.

First, to the Supreme Court:

I hereby suspended your powers for a term spanning no less than thirty (30) days for misappropraition of power and absence of good judgement. The rise of the internet has diluted the power of television and newspaper outlets' monopolies and thus given the public at large a choice. Please disrobe before leaving the courtroom.

Secondly, to the public relations team at Gannet Corp.:

You have been caught off guard, invited the proverbial cat to "get your tongue", and passed on a moment in the national spotlight. You allowed crickets to play, while reactions were sought. For this you shall be forced to watch contestants swallowing live crickets on Fear Factor reruns (on any NBC affliate of your choice, of course). Finally, "no comment" translates to "no paycheck"; you shall not get paid for a single day of work starting from the date the case first went to trial.

The court of public opinion is adjourned.