The media circus surrounding one of the latest high profile sex scandals reached a new high this weekend. Dominique Strauss-Kahn spoke out on Sunday for the first time since his May 14 arrest on charges of attempted rape. Strauss-Kahn served as Managing Director of the International Money Fund (IMF) until his resignation just days after his arrest. He also had serious plans to become Nicolas Sarkozy’s successor as President of France. These plans have changed drastically following his arrest and the subsequent press frenzy. One of the more infamous scandals recently, Strauss-Kahn was accused of trying to rape a maid at New York’s Sofitel Hotel. The New York Times reported on the story shortly after the arrest, describing Strauss-Kahn as being “’widely expected to become the Socialist candidate’ for the French presidency.”
The case seemed to be on the right track for the prosecution, with forensic evidence proving that Strauss-Kahn and his accuser did have sex. Last month, however, the case was dropped as the defense began to question the maid’s credibility. Perhaps more interesting than the case itself was the way in which the media and the public reacted to the situation.
Following the accusations, Strauss-Kahn became something of an upper-class villain who thought himself untouchable. The American media in particular seemed to assume Strauss-Kahn’s guilt immediately. In this video that aired on Good Morning America roughly two months after the arrest, Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, a Guinean immigrant, tells her side of the story for the first time.
The video obviously plays on the emotional impact of the case, with Nafissatou Diallo’s tearful account of being afraid for her life after realizing how powerful the man she claimed raped her was. Media from Strauss-Kahn’s native France have treated the case very differently, as shown in a Reuter's blog.
Regardless of whether or not people believed his innocence, the case proved the power of a high profile sex scandal to attract an unbelievable amount of attention. As we have seen with other cases of this nature - think Elliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner - the public loves to follow a good scandal, oftentimes solely for entertainment purposes. Strauss-Kahn’s televised interview Sunday attracted a record number of viewers according to The Hollywood Reporter, a website with headlines covering celebrity feuds and the Emmy Awards. Clearly, the public feeds on scandals such as this one, and the ever-changing role of digital media in society continues to make it easier to follow these cases so closely and from different perspectives.
No comments:
Post a Comment