Another Pending JBR Documentary in the UK

Discussion in 'The Truth About Colorado University Journalism Pr' started by tempester, Nov 26, 2006.

  1. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    Page 5 of 6

    Because Daxis hadn’t given any concrete information on the murder, nor revealed his name or location, the DA’s office couldn’t do anything. Smit told Tracey to hang in there and keep talking to Daxis, just in case something came up. “Personally, [Karr] was not at the top of my [suspect] list,†Smit says, “but when you have a lead you have to follow it…. If you have a man confessing to a murder, you need to get law enforcement in this.â€

    During the next three years, Daxis’ e-mails came more frequently, and Daxis, as Tracey puts it, became more “needy.†When Daxis hinted that he might show up at the Ramseys’ vacation home in Michigan, Tracey interpreted it as a threat. With the help of the Ramseys’ attorney, in May 2006, he got these e-mails into the hands of Lacy, who then started her investigation. “We believed we had to look into Mr. Karr when he started stating that it was he who committed the murder,†Lacy wrote in a recent e-mail statement.

    Over the course of the next three months, Karr and Tracey e-mailed or telephoned on a daily basis, with Boulder investigators monitoring and sometimes coaching on Tracey what to say. They told him to do anything it took to keep Daxis on the phone so he didn’t disappear, so they could find out who he was. They advised him to draw out Daxis with conversation that excited him until he eventually confessed.

    Sensing that the graphic exchanges and the mental chess of it all might be taking a toll on Tracey’s mental health, the DA’s office offered to take him off the case and replace him with an agent. Tracey resisted. “I knew [Daxis] would spot that in a second,†he says. “We were so much in each other’s heads.â€

    The e-mails between the two men would total about 1,400 pages. There were more than 10 hour-long telephone calls, too. Both are full of contradictions and red flags. Tracey’s critics have accused him of “grooming Karr into confession,†not in pursuit of justice but in chasing fame and book deals. One of the most memorable details from JonBenét’s crime scene was the blanket draped over her body, but in the e-mails it appears that Karr didn’t remember it. After Tracey jogged his memory, saying, “You did cover her with a light coloured blanket,†Karr wrote, “Thank God. I couldn’t quite remember that.â€

    The morning of Aug. 17, 2006, Boulder DA Mary Lacy held a press conference announcing the arrest of John Mark Karr in Thailand. While her words cautioned the media that this was still an ongoing investigation, there was an air of self-congratulatory backslapping among the Boulder authorities, the media, and Tracey. Wearing a sport coat and an enormous grin for his triumphant moment, the journalism professor gladly fielded questions from the swarming media. Then came the DNA test, the science proving Karr did not kill JonBenét, along with the testimony putting Karr with his relatives the night of JonBenét’s murder.

    Only 12 days after that first press conference, Lacy held a second, announcing Karr was not the guy. They had been wrong. In other words, Tracey had been wrong. John Ramsey was grateful to Tracey for his efforts. “John is deeply appreciative [of Michael Tracey],†says Ramsey attorney Morgan. “He followed through with a lead and it was hard on him.â€

    The media, however, were left seething. Because they’d been stuck out in Boulder for a non-story, or because they’d gone on a wild goose chase to Thailand and back— because they’d been exposed as sen:(sation:(alists. And because the professor who’d self-righteously criticized them for precisely this behavior in the past was the one now responsible for it all. At the second press conference, they would have wanted the professor’s head, and Tracey knew it. He went to teach class instead.

    Tracey’s critics, like KHOW’s Boyles, the local weekly newspaper Westword, and online Ramsey sleuths, once again pounced on him, arguing that his endgame wasn’t solving the case; it was satiating his ego.

    Months later, I ask Tracey about the backlash. Seated behind his office desk, he practically shouts: “People don’t realize it was an absolute nightmare, to listen to this stuff and deal with this guy, this control freak, telling me how he killed her, and about his relationships with girls. It was a :(:(:(:(ing nightmare. This is what infuriates me—when people imply I’m doing it for profit or it was all a game. ********. Total ********. Day after day, week after week, having to listen to this stuff and having to pretend it was OK, because that was the only way to keep him talking? It was tiring and an intense mind game.†Regaining his composure, he adds, “But I’d do it again, if I felt there was a lead that needed to be followed,†sounding a lot like he does when explaining away Gigax.

    Whispering under his breath, he dramatically pauses, looks out the window, and says, “Oh, Daxis, why?†Which raises that other often asked question: Oh, Tracey, why?

    On Oct. 16, 2006, riding out what hopefully was the last of his 15 Minutes, Karr appeared on “Larry King Live.†After being cleared in Boulder, then carted to California for child pornography charges and released due to lack of evidence, he was a free man. In one of the revealing moments of the show, Karr, almost as if offering an explanation for why he confessed to a murder he did not commit, told Larry King: “When I was walking through that pool of reporters, taking all those photos, I thought to myself, ‘Why am I not walking through this pool of reporters because I am a good, wonderful person, to be acknowledged for being a good, wonderful person?’â€

    A good person. For Karr being good wasn’t enough to get him the attention he desired, and that is perhaps what makes Karr and Tracey more alike than either of them realizes. Tracey was only 4 years old when his father, John Tracey, 31, a member of England’s Royal Air Force, died instantly in a plane crash. Tracey still carries a photo of his father in his wallet. It’s a worn-down picture of a young, uniformed man who died with his fullpotential unrealized, a man who died anonymously.

    Looking at the picture, Tracey gets introspective. “I can be very hot. I’m less so now, but for a long time, looking back, I was very aggressive, about my work, women, alcohol.â€
     
  2. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    Page 6 of 6

    As a child, Tracey was told he was dumb. Growing up in the blue-collar town of Oldham in northern England, where his grandparents helped raise him, he was a short-attention-spanned kid whose potential wasn’t realized until, he says, he took the school placement exams. He recalls that moment with an air of pride: the day they realized he had a brain.

    Academic scores gave him the confidence to set out to earn a Ph.D. He chose media studies on a “whim†one night while, as he puts it, he was drunk at a bar with a friend. He enrolled at the University of Leicester, where he set to work on his first in-depth research project, a 500-plus-page thesis, “The Production of Political Television.â€

    His first break came when the then-director general of the BBC, Hugh Greene, agreed to let Tracey write a biography about him. Tracey was only 27 years old. He spent the next nine years researching the subject, getting to know him on a personal level.

    Greene was a “cocky bastard,†as Tracey tells it, known for his womanizing and I-don’t-give-a-:(:(:(:(-what-you-think attitude. He successfully revamped the BBC, but the broadcasting company retired him in the wake of an “unbuttoned†extramarital affair with a woman named Tatjana. Tracey developed a fondness for Greene and came to view him as a father figure.

    The Greene biography was met with moderate success, enabling Tracey to land a position at a media think tank in London. Marriage and three children fell into place. Until then he’d never formally taught a class, but he was a productive researcher (seven books before the age of 40), and had charisma. All this was just enough to convince the higher-ups at the University of Colorado journalism school to hire him as a tenured professor (his current salary is $103,000). Part of Tracey’s CU marching orders was to start the Center for Mass Media Research, a program that Dean Paul Voakes ended once he took office in 2003, because it never got off the ground.

    As the media center failed to begin, Tracey’s marriage began to fail. He had an affair with his own Tatjana, Jen, whom he’d met one night at the Toad seven years ago. The affair lasted years before Tracey divorced. He is close to his son from the first marriage, but his two daughters rarely talk to him.

    One of the days I visited with Tracey in his campus office, I noticed a copy of the Oct. 12, 2006, issue of Westword. Tracey’s face was on the cover; the story inside eviscerated him, citing the Gigax and Karr fiascos. Seeing me spot the paper on his desk, he said, “I never read it, and I don’t plan on reading it. I don’t care what my critics think of me.†He grabbed the Greene biography off a shelf and read one of the passages aloud, before handing me the copy of the book, as a gift. “[Hugh Greene’s] own preferred culture suggested sin rather than sanctity.â€

    The Society of Professional Journalists has a code by which they believe journalists should work: Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable. It was this sort of raison d’être that drew me to journalism at the University of Colorado program. I went there to learn how to report truth. It’s why I had signed up for Tracey’s media class, and it’s why, after he dove into his diatribe about the JonBenét Ramsey case on that first day, I dropped his class.

    That same autumn in 2004, Tracey was moonlighting as a media critic for the Rocky Mountain News, and wrote a column titled “Truth Takes Back Seat to Distortions.†It was a dig at Dan Rather, who’d aired documents that indicated President Bush had dodged his Texas Air National Guard obligations back in the 1970s. The now-infamous documents were forged. Rather apologized and later resigned. In his column, Tracey used Rather as another metaphor for the failings of journalism:

    “Dan Rather had to admit that he couldn’t verify documents that ‘60 Minutes II’ had broadcast, in a stupid rush to publish…This presents a serious problem for the idea of the media within a so-called democracy. We imagine people to be rational, curious, informed, constructing knowledge out of information and decisions out of knowledge. The media are there to provide the information that incubates the knowledge that births a rational world. This is today largely nonsense since we live in an age where the distorted is favored over the true.†It’s a column Tracey could now pen about himself.

    Tracey granted me an interview because I was an alumnus. Because I was young. And green. During one of our conversations he suggested I watch a movie called Shadowlands—the story of a British writer/professor and his love affair with a young American “fan.â€

    Only two years after graduating, when I returned to the halls of the CU J-school, I found the same man whose class I had dropped—not so much the crass opportunist his critics saw from afar, but rather a man unmoored, trying to solve the mystery of a murdered little girl and maybe, in so doing, find himself.

    After listening to Tracey over the course of several weeks, I asked him to define his legacy. His answer came in an e-mail: “That’s for you and other people to decide.†Rather than extract some clarity, he once again sidestepped into yet another theoretical debate.

    I’m sitting across from Tracey at our secret meeting at the Hungry Toad, waiting to hear the information about Karr that’s so interesting the professor could only share it in person. Tracey’s beer arrives. He’s in the habit of ordering half pints, rather than full ones, though he probably ends up drinking the same amount of alcohol in the end. Finally, he starts to talk.

    He’s heard from David Mills. A production crew from “48 Hours†had an interview with federal agents who admitted that John Mark Karr was still under investigation for the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Tracey tells me he hasn’t confirmed whether it’s really true. It’s all going to be on television in a couple weeks, he says. Anyway, he’s energized by the new development, and he can’t stop talking. Meanwhile, Jen has started doodling in her notebook. Tracey’s son’s eyes have drifted up to the football game on the television. Even Paul, the JonBenét playwright, is zoning out. And I realize that I’m the only one still listening.
     
  3. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    It makes you wonder why this article was made unavailable just a day after it was found by one of our members. (Susan Bennett saw the reference to it here at FFJ and then copied it to her forum without credit).

    Perhaps Michael Tracey and his cohorts and/or friends in the media demanded it be pulled. After all, it didn't paint the toad in a very good light.
     
  4. heymom

    heymom Member

    Thanks for posting that. I don't have time to read the whole thing right now, but I can tell you that I did think the title referred to Tracey himself! And then I remembered that his pub is named The Hungry Toad! He Who Must Be Fed New Victims is more of a weasel than a toad, anyway. Toads are actually nice amphibians who don't harm anyone and are lovable in their own warty way.
     
  5. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    Yeah, I think the title, "The Hungry Toad" was meant to be a pun.
     
  6. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

  7. zoomama

    zoomama Active Member

    Nowhere in that article is there any flattery of Tracey. In fact quite the contrary. However since it is years old it still holds true to today with whatever he is up to. Heaven only knows.

    BTW at the end of the article is the highlited number 6 as in the 6th page of hte article. I couldn't move backwards so I don't know what is on the previous 5 pages. :nuts:
     
  8. Elle

    Elle Member

    Working my way through this article, Cherokee. Thank you for posting it.
    Oh good grief, what a sleazeball Michael Tracey is!
     
  9. Tricia

    Tricia Administrator Staff Member

    How this fraud is allowed to teach or even show his face is beyond me.

    He should be shamed out of Boulder for his lies and profiting off the case of JonBenet. Along with Mary Lacy.
     
  10. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    You're welcome, Elle.

    And yes, Michael Tracey is a sleazeball and a few other things besides. I've always thought it was beyond ironic for Michael Tracey to supposedly teach "ethics" when he has none. Among the many unethical things Tracey has done is ruin an innocent man's life by naming him as a suspect in the Ramsey case in a documentary SOLD to TV media. The man was NOT a suspect for very good reason. He as not in the state of Colorado at the time and could prove it with witnesses and store receipts. Tracey claimed the man was not only suspect, but that authorities could not find him because he'd gone into hiding. It was a two for one lie! First, the authorities weren't looking for this man. The reason? He was never a suspect. Secondly, he wasn't hard to find. A Google search produced his whereabouts and internet business. Tracey and his goons hadn't even TRIED to reach him!

    The poor man, who was in terrible health, was hounded by crank callers and death threats because of what Tracey did. His business was affected, and his health further declined. Not once did Michael Tracey ever apologize to this man for what he did to his life. The man was John Gygax, but it could have been any one of us. Michael Tracey did not care whose life he destroyed as long as he could make money, get fame, and help his beloved Ramseys look innocent.

    It is a disgrace that Michael Tracey is still employed at Boulder campus of Colorado University; but then, ETHICS has never been Boulder's strong suit.
     
  11. Elle

    Elle Member

    Tricia, Cherokee, Moab,

    Wishing you all the best with whatever news we hear on Tuesday and Wednesday. It has been a long haul waiting for it. You have all done a great job here supporting little JonBenét Ramsey. Not easy to keep updating all the files on this forum etc. and keep it running. Thank you Tricia for keeping Forums For Justice open for us. Thank you again Cherokee and Moab for all the moderating work you have done over the years! :rose: :rose: :rose:

    A big Thank You to all the other wonderful members here: You all know who you are, who keep us all updated. :rose:
     
  12. Barbara

    Barbara FFJ Senior Member



    Ditto

    And thanks Elle just for being you. You are really a special lady
     
  13. Cherokee

    Cherokee FFJ Senior Member

    You're very welcome, and your appreciation of our efforts means a lot. :hug:
     
  14. Moab

    Moab Admin Staff Member

    Thank you Elle, you know we are just here to serve! :grouphug:
     
  15. Driver

    Driver FFJ Senior Member

    Well great! If you're serving, I believe I will have another Vodka Tonic, please....tall glass, with lime.

    :yay:
     
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