Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial: Does Anyone Care?

Did you know the Aaron Hernandez murder trial began yesterday? You might have missed it, amongst the stories about deflated balls, and just showing up so one doesn’t get fined, and Katy Perry. We didn’t have a post on the start of the trial. Deadspin didn’t either (they had a post on Monday about weather postponing the opening statements). Bleacher Report, where you can find multiple stories on just about any topic, has three in the last week. A search of SB Nation and all of its blogs shows the last post with Aaron Hernandez in the title was on December 27, 2014.

Among non-Boston area major city newspapers, we see that coverage is hit-or-miss, ranging from the New York Times having a story about the opening statements yesterday, and the Washington Post also with a story on the start of trial, to several others having condensed AP reports, to a paper like the Los Angeles Times not having a story since jury selection began on January 9th.

Dan Wetzel provided his usual incredible coverage of the event for Yahoo Sports. Our parent company, USA Today, will have coverage of key decisions, and images from the trial. ESPN will have reports from the trial from legal experts during Sportscenter segments–you might also have seen something on the crawl about the trial beginning. This is not to say that there is no coverage of the event. It is to say, though, that the interest in the Aaron Hernandez trial–at least for now–is not rivaling that for the O.J. Simpson trial.

Why?

Well, I think it’s an interesting view of larger questions on who drives coverage–the media or the public who consumes it. In this case, it has been more than 18 months since the news of Aaron Hernandez being investigated first broke. In many ways, Hernandez was tried and convicted already in the court of public opinion. With each salacious detail that came out, it seemed more likely that he was going to be going away for a long time. Eighteen months is a long time to hold our attention when we think the outcome is determined.

I can say this–when the story first broke, we couldn’t publish enough Aaron Hernandez stories, and they inevitably were traffic leaders for months. When there has been an occasion to post something on Hernandez in the last six months, the interest hasn’t been in that same excessive category.

So if you are seeing fewer items on Hernandez show up in your Facebook feed or Twitter timeline, it might be because the market is responding to what You want. By You (capitalized) I’m referring to the more universal You, which includes myself. Perhaps you personally weren’t interested at the outset; maybe you still want to read everything you can. We try not to be slaves to only what people subconsciously tell us they want; some of the best writing can come from a creative place of not just resorting to the easy topic. We do want to write about things that the public wants, or that we are personally driven and passionate about (and hopefully both).

In this case, the topic was covered. On the occasions I have written or reviewed an evidentiary issue, well, the general curiosity isn’t there. I will predict this, though. The public will care a lot about Aaron Hernandez if he is acquitted. With a high-priced defense and some of the evidentiary rulings that have been made, it’s not a fait accompli that a conviction is returned. That’s the plot twist that will bring You back, in droves.