Viewer's lament: `It's not right' // Many were waiting for O.J.'s story

Richard Price; Sally Ann Stewart

10/12/1995

USA Today

FIRST

Page 03A

LOS ANGELES - Muriel Magdych has endured a load of frustration over the 16

months since O.J. Simpson was arrested on double-murder charges, but

Wednesday's collapse of Simpson's NBC Dateline interview finally put her over

the edge.

From her home in Farmdale, Ohio, the 60-year-old grandmother said: "I'm

absolutely disgusted! After all this time, I finally had a chance to hear him tell

his side! It's just not right!"

That was a familiar refrain across the nation Wednesday. Although Wednesday's

announced cancellation touched off a flurry of emotions, ranging from triumph

among women's groups to relief among Simpson's lawyers, none was more

common than the raw disappointment expressed by millions of Americans

itching for answers.

Many were looking for someone to blame. Magdych's choice: the National

Organization for Women, which opposed the interview; and the media,

particularly NBC, which Magdych said was approaching the event more like a

cross-examination than an interview.

"The media hung him from the first day of this case," Magdych said. "And they

were ready to do it again."

In Los Angeles, Bob Hill, 55, blamed a different crowd: Simpson and his

lawyers. "If he wants to prove his innocence, why doesn't he just get up there and

say it?"

How did it fall apart?

Although Simpson and his lawyers concede the cancellation was their idea, they

put part of the blame on NBC.

"It has become clear," Simpson said in a statement read by his lawyer Johnnie

Cochran , "that NBC has, perhaps in an attempt to appease diverse public

viewpoints, concluded that this would be a time and an opportunity to retry me."

But Simpson also indirectly acknowledged that he had hoped to avoid tough

questions.

According to Simpson, he and NBC had "agreed that this would be a

conversation, not a confrontation." Citing civil suits from the families of Nicole

Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson added that "there would be some

questions that I could not, obviously, address."

But NBC said from the outset that the interview was to be a no-holds-barred

session.

The interview may have been doomed from the start.

Eager to tell his story and repair his image, Simpson ignored advice of his

lawyers and associates in discussing the interview idea with his old friend Don

Ohlmeyer, president of NBC News West Coast.

Simpson told Ohlmeyer he wanted to set the record straight on a series of things.

Most recent: an NBC Today show interview last week between Katie Couric and

Sheila Weller, who wrote Raging Heart, a scathing picture of Simpson's marriage

to Nicole.

Weller said that two days after the verdict Simpson returned his children Justin

and Sydney to their grandparents' house early in the morning without calling to

say they were on their way. When the interview aired, Simpson's supporters said,

the kids were at their father's estate, playing video games.

Such alleged inaccuracies ate at Simpson. He wanted to fix things and thought

NBC could help.

So after Ohlmeyer played intermediary, Simpson and NBC President Andy Lack

struck the deal Sunday.

Simpson said he "insisted that there be no commercials." In announcing the

interview, NBC noted it would be commercial-free but made no mention that it

was Simpson's idea.

Leo Terrell, legal adviser to Simpson's sisters, said both sides expected

controversy to center on whether Simpson was paid. "People took it one step

further and demanded that if Simpson wouldn't testify in court, then NBC

shouldn't let him testify on TV." That demand was spearheaded by women's

groups, particularly NOW's local president, Tammy Bruce, who accused NBC of

turning the airwaves over to a wife-beater. She led hundreds in a protest outside

NBC's studios here.

"You are not welcome here," Bruce said. "You are not welcome in this country;

you are not welcome on our airwaves; you are not welcome in our culture."

NBC's Lack made it clear that Tom Brokaw and Couric would ask "tough"

questions. Simpson's lawyers said NBC went overboard by consulting

prosecutors in the case. Lack told The New York Times that Brokaw and Couric

would block Simpson "from giving long accounts of his feelings and emotions."

By late Tuesday, Simpson's lawyers were almost frantic, advising their client to

keep his mouth shut. Cochran publicly announced he was against the interview.

As they called him repeatedly, Simpson grew wary. He was surprised by the

public outburst. He was distressed by NBC's reports that it had been the network

that refused to sell ads during the interview. He was upset by Brokaw's insistence

he would be tough.

Later in the day, Lack confirmed that the no-commercial approach had been a

Simpson demand. That wasn't enough. Brokaw said Simpson's lawyers wanted

limits on questions.

"When he first said he wanted to come on," Brokaw said on Chicago's WBBM,

"Simpson said that he wanted those questions, but his lawyers decided that it

would be too perilous."

Lack said Simpson told him: "I've got nine lawyers here who say I shouldn't go

do this interview. . . . I still want to, but I think I'm going to have to listen to

their advice."

Cochran said, "We are somewhat surprised, stunned, shocked by some of

comments attributed to Mr. Brokaw." But he didn't argue details.

What about NBC? Did the network win or lose? Generally, analysts defended

NBC on the issue, but some bashed it for becoming too caught up in "Simpson

madness," as media critic Ellen Hume put it.

Robert Lichter, who directs the Center for Media and Public Affairs in

Washington, D.C., said there was no way to avoid some viewer backlash.

"I love this story," he said. "Whatever you do it's wrong and it's newsworthy. If

they don't do the story, they're folding to pressure. If they do the interview,

they're pandering to tabloid entertainment. If it's too soft, they've gone mushy. If

it's too tough, they're biased. They can't win this one."

Contributing: Haya El Nasser, Gale Holland and Jonathan Lovitt

PHOTO,b/w,Kevork Djansezian,AP; PHOTO,b/w,Kathy Willens,AP;

PHOTO,b/w,Pool photo