Simpson trying to fight off `aura of guilt'

Richard Price; Gale Holland

10/11/1995

USA Today

FINAL

Page 01A

LOS ANGELES - Tonight, 486 days after the brutal crime that launched an

electrifying murder case, the man acquitted eight days ago of the two killings

faces his first public questioning.

The defendant: O.J. Simpson, who did not testify in his criminal trial, appears

tonight on Dateline for what NBC bills as an hour-long, no-holds-barred

interview.

Substituting for lawyers: Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric, who will interview

Simpson live at about 9 p.m. ET.

The jury: A public that has leaned heavily against Simpson from the start. Ten

days after Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered, 66%

said they believed he did it. After his acquittal, it climbed to 73%.

And it's that weight of opinion, say experts in the art of manipulating public

sentiment, which prompts tonight's coming-out - Simpson's opening drive to win

back the public that once celebrated him.

"He has to get out there," says jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn, who predicted

Simpson's acquittal six months before it came in. "He has to look the American

public in the eye and answer the hard questions. If he doesn't, the aura of guilt

will follow him until the day he dies."

But does he have any real chance of shedding that aura? Although experts are

divided, Hirschhorn says yes - as long as Simpson doesn't sidestep any questions.

"He has to put up or shut up. He's had over a year to put together his thoughts in

a cogent manner. He's a smart guy. He can do it. For the first time since he was

arrested, the ball's in his court, and he can turn the tide."

Maybe, but if Simpson pulls it off, it would be an astounding reclamation. Public

opinion hasn't weighed this heavily against a public figure since the Watergate

scandal drove former president Richard Nixon out of the White House in 1973.

Although Nixon won back some respect, it came slowly and many still weren't

ready to forgive him when he died in 1994.

But Nixon was a politician - and they're routinely treated with suspicion.

Simpson's advantage going in: He once was adored. His financial success was

rooted in media stardom, and his relationship with the nation was a love affair.

"He'd have a problem living without public approval," says Buffalo News

columnist Larry Felser, who's known Simpson for 25 years - back to his playing

days with the Bills.

Which means that Simpson's strange, new life may be as confining as a prison

cell. Some people cheer, but others shout "guilty" when he's in the area. And the

mainstream media, sensitive to public sentiment, are rejecting any projects that

would mean sharing money with him.

Two leading pay-per-view systems shunned a project with Simpson, calling it

unseemly. And NBC, in an extraordinary act of caution, is stressing that the

interview with Simpson will be run commercial-free.

Still, merely granting the interview brought a storm of protest, particularly from

women's groups that plan to march tonight outside the network's Burbank

studios, where the interview takes place.

"We expect a madhouse," says KNBC anchor Kelly Lange.

Says NBC News president Andy Lack: "Many of those callers don't realize that

we are not paying O.J. Simpson and O.J. Simpson did not want to be paid for

this interview. We're not profiting from it."

Advertisers don't want to cash in. "The association with Simpson is not a

comfortable one," says Paul Schulman, who buys ad time for sponsors. "Too

many people disagreed with the results of the trial."

Joe Saltzman, journalism professor at the University of Southern California, calls

the media reaction an exercise in hypocrisy. Simpson was acquitted, and he says

the media shouldn't be treating him as a special case.

It's a veiled implication they think he's guilty, says Saltzman. "It's all propaganda

and image-making. . . . They're more concerned about their image than O.J."

But the commercial-free approach does help Simpson, say analysts, who believe

he made a critical error on the day of his release by turning to the tabloid press.

Simpson took cash from Star magazine in exchange for letting them cover his

acquittal party at his Rockingham estate.

"Moves like that may fill his private coffers, but it's going to hurt him in the long

run," says image consultant Valerie Wiener, an expert in crisis management and

author of Power Communications: Positioning Yourself for Higher Visibility.

"He cannot be seen as trying to cash in."

Wiener suggests Simpson consider community service without pay. "He needs to

give something back. . . . But he has to show us, not just talk."

Republican media consultant Jim Innocenzi agrees that community service is

Simpson's ticket. Until he shifts opinion, says Innocenzi, Simpson probably will

have time for it. "He's going to have a hard time finding any sort of job . . .

unless it is friend-driven or race-driven."

Those are the only groups solidly in his camps - his network of friends and many

in the black community. But Simpson's world largely was a white one - and his

friends and his lawyers say he wants that back. He wants it all back.

Some suggest Simpson do nothing for the time being - that he go off for an

extended holiday in some remote corner of the world. But others argue that the

media still would hunt him down and haunt him endlessly. "He's never going to

have a life until he deals with this," says Hirschhorn.

Judging by the turmoil at NBC's studios in Burbank Tuesday, he's right. The

atmosphere has that same, obsessive quality that characterized the trial. The

network canceled tours for three days and interrupted production of some shows.

Anticipating about 5,000 protesters, guards will carry metal-detectors, and

employees were advised to dig out their long-tucked away ID badges.

Simpson underwent tough practice sessions during the trial to prepare him for the

stand, so he's unlikely to be surprised by questions and most experts believe he'll

have logical answers. But he still faces three civil suits, and anything he says

tonight could be used against him.

Innocenzi predicts some will buy Simpson's story - but not many. "The guy will

have to have better acting skills than he ever portrayed in Naked Gun movies if

anybody's going to believe him. . . . White Americans will look at his interview

through a jaundiced eye and certainly be cynical."

The key, says Innocenzi: He's doing it for free. "He has nothing to lose. The only

personal gain is the salvation of his reputation, and he's doing it the right way."

Contributing: Peter Johnson, Jonathan T. Lovitt and Jefferson Graham

GRAPHIC,color,Suzy Parker, USA TODAY (Illustration)