Sulamith,
Let me tell you what I think about Kiefer's tweet, as it was directed at me and my friends.
He has minimized the "trial watchers" to categories of "prosecution groupies" and "day gawkers" exclusively. Apparently he doesn't think anyone else comes to watch a trial for other motivations.
http://muckrack.com/michaelbkiefer/statuses/314067886908010496
He's been slinging this insulting crap since March.
Back when I was speaking to him, before he went off the rails with insults directed at me personally, I confronted him on this. I reminded him that some of us were there to support the family. He shrugged obviously this being meaningless to him.
You see by then he was already sharing with me and anyone who would listen that he thought Travis' family deserved the pain they were in because they refused to accept a second degree plea with the prosecution. He called Travis "disgusting" and a "pig" to my face. He spewed so much vitriol toward Martinez I tuned it out. He called Jennifer Willmott "cute". I'm not even saying some of the worst things he said. The profanity could get me timed out.
He held disdain for anyone supporting this trial, reporting totally false "facts" all pointed toward demeaning Martinez and the family while aggrandizing and portraying defense witnesses as victims. He published leaked info and sneakily redacted it online. Many other journalists I spoke to held and hold the same impressions I have.
So when he tweets that no family is in court (false) and refers to us who've been in contact with the family who asked us to sit on the front row for them, diminishing us to "groupies" I'm gonna call him out on it.
Note he didnt tweet about Jodi's mom being there on the second to last row with a weirdo who got ejected from court, twice. He wasn't referred to at all much less as a "murderer groupie".
He intends to insult and he does. And now we're calling him out on it. He's taken it too far for too long.
I prefer my trial reporters, not editorialists but reporters, served without bias. That's what he's getting paid for.
Just in case you were wondering.
PS none of you or other non registered readers in the hundreds would have been privy to my trial observations had I not taken time out of my busy life to attend the trial and come home exhausted and post my notes. I don't know how that would get minimized to some marginal label but it has been part of my role since day one. I've endured all kinds of insults for my participation, here and elsewhere , including from you which have gotten deleted. When you are putting your heart and soul in to something only to be marginalized for it by strangers or in the case of Kiefer someone I'd called a friend for years, you can hit a limit. Guess my response to his tweet, and this response here, represent mine.