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Reporter's Notebook: Outside the Anthony House

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Samara Sodos

News Channel 8

Published: December 13, 2008

Orlando - After watching the coverage of the Caylee Anthony disappearance from Tampa for six months, I had some hesitation on the way to Orlando Thursday and joining what appeared to be a wild pack of hungry reporters ravaging to get the next angle in this national beast of a story. Hey, I'm just as aggressive as the next guy, but something about this coverage made me… shudder.

I had no idea what I was in for.

Upon arriving to the scene, I noticed it sprawled for miles… satellite and live trucks perched on every corner, black cable stretched over neighborhood blocks, TV and law enforcement choppers hovering overhead, random people running (why were they running?), neighborly-looking people taking photographs, and Orange County deputies patrolling the streets on foot and in cruisers like war had been declared here. Tampa has seen its share of national stories but this was sheer insanity. I had truly never seen so many media trucks in my life in one neighborhood.

I spent a few minutes getting my bearings (where was the crime scene?) (how far away was it from the house?), I noticed some reporters took interest in a man who just arrived. Not really knowing who he was but realizing I should try to interview him rather than miss him, News Channel 8 photojournalist Indira LeVine and I rushed over to speak with him. Another reporter was interviewing him, others were huddling around him. We put another microphone under him and rolled video, which is standard protocol. The next thing I knew, the female reporter interviewing him shoved my body with her arm in an effort to get rid of me! Stunned, I didn't move. She did it again! Then again! We realized later, she was doing a live report. But in the midst of so many reporters, it was difficult to see this.

I can't remember the last time I was physically pushed during an interview on a story. Maybe 10 years ago?

Later that night, I overheard a neighbor outside the Anthony family home remark, "This is like going to the circus but not having to buy a ticket!"

"It's typical in Orlando, "says Jessica D'Onofrio, a reporter for WKMG-TV, the CBS affiliate in Orlando. "We are an aggressive news market and it's extremely competitive. It's not just the Anthony story, it's every big story."

D'Onofrio, who has covered the Caylee Anthony case since it broke this past summer, says the competition is cutthroat.

"So many things break in a day, it's turned into an animal," D'Onofrio said. "Every little piece of sound and every development, the media wants. Sometimes there are days officials and other people don't talk and you never know when it's your last sound bite," she added.

I had noticed the gaggle of reporters swarming around Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary Thursday as he made his latest statements in the investigation. In Tampa, we traditionally would put up a microphone stand to allow the sheriff to speak at a comfortable distance from the cameras and reporters, also giving the crews an opportunity to get clean video and audio. In Orlando, the reporters and photographers ambushed Beary like he was never coming back to Orange County again. Like this was the last time they'd ever see him.

I asked D'Onofrio, "What's with the 'bum-rushing' of public officials like your sheriff, and everyone else for that matter?"

D'Onofrio's eyes darted off to movement across the street at the Anthony home. Suddenly photographers with cameras started sprinting across the street. "You mean, like this?" she asked. She raced off, leaving me all alone with my notebook and pen in hand.

George and Cindy Anthony were leaving their home, and the news outlets battled to capture their every move.

"I think it's insane. These poor people, my heart goes out to them," said Fred Brotherton, a snowbird living in Leesburg, Florida.

Brotherton watched the media crews work, as they surrounded the Anthony home.

"I personally think it's a little excessive," he said. "This poor family hasn't had any peace. It kind of disturbs me. The media should back off a little."

Every so often, deputies would politely ask reporters and photographers to get off private property. They didn't want to talk about the media situation on the record.

D'Onofrio said she doesn't think the way the Orlando media is covering this case casts journalists in a negative light. "This is the nature of the media. I wouldn't say it's good or bad. We have a responsibility to cover the story. That's what we're doing."

My second day covering the story in Orlando, we bum-rushed the bounty-hunter who bailed out Caylee Anthony's mom when she was first arrested. Suddenly enveloped by a swarm, I couldn't get my microphone in the mix. A stranger reached for it, and put it close to the bounty hunter's mouth. A random act of reporter kindness!

When it was over, I thanked the stranger, a reporter from Orlando.

"Hey, I know what it's like," he smiled.

News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos can be reached at (813) 314-5379 or slsodos@wfla.com

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