The MDJ article mentioned how 15-20 media agencies, including BBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, FOX News, Atlanta's ABC, NBC, and CBS stations, have all applied to send representatives to the trial. That's eight media outlets right there. I can speculate on who the rest of them are: Birmingham media outlets, other Atlanta media outlets not mentioned like the AJC, ABC, NBC, possibly People Magazine, Daily Mail, etc. It's obvious the case will receive national coverage but it remains to be seen to what extent. The media probably doesn't even know yet; they have to see how much interest there is first. HLN has been covering jury selection but they haven't announced yet whether they will cover the trial live. Maybe they have decided they will not, or maybe they haven't made a decision yet. If they did, there's no reason to not announce it. I maintain that HLN will give the case the most media attention out of all the national media, regardless if they cover the trial live or not. I said before that I think we will see a substantial increase in attention when the verdict is due to come in. But for the 5 weeks prior to that, who knows? There is a crazy election going on.
At this point, I do feel like there is a lot of hype regarding the coverage. It's similiar to a movie coming out and the advertising for it calling it "the biggest movie of the summer" before we even get box office information. For example, the MDJ article says "huge media interest" with 15-20 media agencies applying to cover the case. I did a search for trial "media agencies" to see what it was in other cases. I found a document saying that 52 media agencies applied to cover OJ Simpson's Las Vegas trial (for which he is currently in jail). I wouldn't be surprised if the 15-20 number increases as the trial goes on, but saying there's huge media interest in a trial that as of right now, has less than half the amount of media interest there was in OJ's Vegas trial seems like it doesn't match up.
