Watching my neighbors on national TV every night

[Bravo]

As I mentioned two months ago, Natalee Holloway is a teenager from my town who is missing in Aruba. She has been missing since May 30.

This family lives less than a mile from our house. Her mother (Beth Twitty) is a part time Speech teacher and has taught our autistic daughter in the past.

For a variety of reasons, this story has stayed in the American national media daily since that time. The most dominating reason the story has continued to have national interest is that Beth refuses to let the investigation die and Fox News Channel (This is SKY network over in Europe guys) continues to cover it closely. Larry King has also devoted programs too it and I saw it this morning on NBC's Today Show. And from what I have read - the ratings for Fox during the past two months have been meaningfully increased because of this story. For some reasons, Americans are highly interested in it.

Beth's husband George (nickname Jug) has gone to Aruba several times but has had to return to Birmingham several times to work. Last night, Fox interviewed him from his home. In the meantime, Beth was down in Aruba and personally confronted one of the suspects at work and taped part of her conversation with him on a hidden camera. Bizarre...This will likely be played on Fox News Network tonight between 7-9 pm CDT.

It's like TV mini-series with new developments in each episode.

Three weeks ago, when I played in our Member-Member tournament, I noticed that he and his brother were playing that weekend. I thought it was great that he was trying to take some time off from the investigation/story and relax a little.

Last night, the parents revealed for the first time that the suspects admitted to sexual assault within several days of the disappearance of their daughter. According to Jug Holloway..."It is documented". This was known two months ago.

I don't know where this post is going but...it is really weird to see your neighbors on TV each and every night, talking about a botched murder investigation in a foreign land. Beth Twitty is one of the most determined individuals I have ever seen

[DaveE]

They're on the news here often and I agree, she does seem very determined. You should never try to get in a mom's way when their kids are in danger or have been harmed.

Everytime I see them on tv I feel blessed that my girls are safe.

[Kilted Arab]

Hi Bravo. SKY and FOX are both owned by Murdoch, but in practice are pretty seperate news organisations with a totaly different style - I watch SKY news all the time and haven't seen this story aside from a post you made a wee while back. So many UK/Europe posters may be unaware of this story. However, I do also have access to FOX news so will watch that over the next few days to catch up.

It's only since becoming a parent that I can appreciate the depth of concern and love parents have for their kids - so stories like this, in a way, are far more important to me than they were a few years ago.

Thanks for bringing this up - I shall watch with interest.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Kilted Arab

Hi Bravo. SKY and FOX are both owned by Murdoch, but in practice are pretty seperate news organisations with a totaly different style - I watch SKY news all the time and haven't seen this story aside from a post you made a wee while back. So many UK/Europe posters may be unaware of this story. However, I do also have access to FOX news so will watch that over the next few days to catch up.

It's only since becoming a parent that I can appreciate the depth of concern and love parents have for their kids - so stories like this, in a way, are far more important to me than they were a few years ago.

Thanks for bringing this up - I shall watch with interest.

Thanks for the update on SKY. I figured that they would have separate news organizations for North America and Europe/Asia...

Over here KA, Fox occupies the "conservative" slot in the field of cable news and has commentators that unabashedly take a more hard line view of domestic crime and world affairs. (For example, they are very much behind the war in Iraq).

Five years ago, Fox was a fledgling organization and CNN dominated cable news. Fox is neck and neck with CNN now and in the past year - in a few quarters - they were the #1 cable news network in North America...

Yes, we all look at things very differently when we are parents don't we? I have a 14 yo daughter. My main hope is that she learns something from this very sad story and will keep her wits about her during her teenage and college years..

It's a scary world out there.

[Kilted Arab]

Originally Posted by Bravo

Thanks for the update on SKY. I figured that they would have separate news organizations for North America and Europe/Asia...

Over here KA, Fox occupies the "conservative" slot in the field of cable news and has commentators that unabashedly take a more hard line view of domestic crime and world affairs. (For example, they are very much behind the war in Iraq).

Five years ago, Fox was a fledgling organization and CNN dominated cable news. Fox is neck and neck with CNN now and in the past year - in a few quarters - they were the #1 cable news network in North America...

Yes, we all look at things very differently when we are parents don't we? I have a 14 yo daughter. My main hope is that she learns something from this very sad story and will keep her wits about her during her teenage and college years..

It's a scary world out there.

Hi Bravo

Where I am, I have access to a number of news channels - CNN, BBC World, FOX, SKY, CNBC and two or three others.

Interestingly, it's the two Murdoch channels, SKY and Fox, that are my favourite and least favourite! SKY news is the one I watch most, probably because it's main focus is on UK news and sport with decent enough helpings of business and international news. BBC World I find pretty dull - informative, but dull! CNN is ok - and I must admit I've usually avoided Fox because of the hard-line and unbalanced reporting I've seen on there before. But, I'll try it again, see how I get on!

You're so right about looking at things differently when you have your own. Just about every news item I see has a different slant on it now - there was a 2 year old kid killed back in Glasgow recently, shot by a 19 yr old with an air-rifle. Horrific. And as for the kids starving in Africa...

[Bravo]

KA:

Do you get an English version of Al-Jazeera over there?

[Kilted Arab]

Originally Posted by Bravo

KA:

Do you get an English version of Al-Jazeera over there?

Nope...it's only broadcast in Arabic as far as I'm aware...