Denver Post Revises Article to Include FFJ!!!

Does anyone have the original article? I don't remember that it mentioned FFJ and Tracey's fraudulant documentary!! (I could be wrong though!)

http://www.denverpost.com/jonbenet/ci_4227965

Critic of JonBenét coverage finds himself amid frenzy
By Jennifer Brown
Denver Post Staff Writer





"I just wish it wasn't so overdone," Michael Tracey said of the media coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey case. (AP / Doug Pensinger)

Michael Tracey's life was invaded by an international onslaught of journalists last week, but he says that burden does not compare to the stress of exchanging e-mails with a man now suspected of killing JonBenét Ramsey.

"The rest of the year has been very, very difficult," the University of Colorado professor said Wednesday. "Really stressful."

Tracey, a British professor of media studies, put two half-written books on hold months ago, instead spending many intense hours, mostly at night, e-mailing John Mark Karr.

The professor did not know Karr's name until last week, when authorities traced his e-mail address and tracked him to an apartment in Thailand.

Tracey, 58, now finds himself fuel for the kind of media frenzy he often has criticized.

The professor catapulted to the national networks as a media critic after JonBenét's 1996 murder, admonishing journalists for dishing out innuendo that painted the girl's parents as guilty.

He says he will not perpetuate the swirl of speculation around Karr and refuses to say a peep about the former schoolteacher's personality or his connection to JonBenét.

"He has a chance here to sort of practice like he preaches," said Tracey's boss, journalism dean Paul Voakes.

Tracey said he was enraged when he found out private investigator Ollie Gray, who had encouraged Tracey to keep writing Karr, leaked some of the e-mails to a newspaper last week.

"I was really furious," he said.

Tracey, who has never worked as a traditional journalist, was at a media think tank in London when CU's former journalism dean, Wick Rowland, now head of Denver's KBDI- Channel 12, lured him to Boulder in 1988 to ramp up a media-studies program.

"Then along came JonBenét," he said.

The Ramseys came looking for him after he wrote a 1997 opinion piece in the Boulder newspaper. A family attorney told him Patsy Ramsey wanted to speak




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to his journalism class, Tracey said.
"I burst out laughing when I heard it," he said. "These are the most wanted people in America."

Instead, Tracey proposed interviewing the couple for a documentary.

"It was kind of like one of those moments that your life changes - in a direction I didn't really expect," he said.

He came to believe the Ramseys had nothing to do with their daughter's murder, and his documentaries put forth the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet.

Forums for Justice, with about 300 active members, is among several websites that have excoriated Tracey for his position. The site called for CU regents to fire Tracey in 2004. Tracey's documentary pointed to a man who was not a suspect in the JonBenét murder, and CU "should be hugely embarrassed," said Tricia Griffith, who runs Forums for Justice.

Students have given Tracey mostly A's and B's on his evaluation forms, and he is considered one of the toughest professors in the journalism school.

The extensive news coverage of the Ramsey case in the last week is reminiscent of the time after JonBenét's murder, Tracey said.

"I just wish it wasn't so overdone," he said. "Last time I checked, there was still a war in Iraq."

Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.

 

If it wasn't so "overdone", you'd have no audience to make your work profitable.

I love it.

:beammeup: :rs:

 

Michael Tracey's students do not think highly of him. Of the 3 that rated him on rate my profesors.com, 2 were very negative:


http://www.ratemyprofessors.com

Michael Tracey



University of Colorado
City: Boulder, CO
Department: Journalism
Michael Tracey's Scorecard
No. of Ratings: 3
Average Easiness: 2.0
Average Helpfulness: 2.0
Average Clarity: 2.0
Hotness Total: 0
Overall Quality: 2.0


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E = Easiness | H = Helpfulness | C = Clarity | RI = Rater Interest
Date
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User Comments
8/27/06
JOUR0000
2
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5



Don't bang it till you try it, kiddos. If you don't want to think, don't take his classes. He has to be one of the most misunderstood professors I've ever had.
5/27/06
Journalism
2
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Everybody knows this guy is a jerk but no one does anything about it. He can treat students like garbage and it's ok. Go tenure. not.
9/3/05
Journ
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This guy is a complete idiot and should be shipped back to England. Condescending attitude, likes to hear himself blat, and is not nearly as smart as he fashions himself to be. NOT recommended.
Page: 1 | Show All Ratings

 

It was Tracey's class that the Ramseys spoke to? The one where she complained about the tabloids and then right after, baked cookies for the Enquirer reporters?

:unreal:

Twice blessed!

 

No, it was a class at the U of West Virginia where she attended.

 

Oh, okay, thanks. I got confused, which is getting easier every day

 

1. Boy, does that FFJ graph seem plopped down in the middle of this article. OTOH, without it, there'd be no transition to the following graph anyway.

2. "among several websites"?? Which other websites have been excoriating Tracey?

3. Is he really being excoriated for his position? Or is it for his utter dishonesty and his vile and reprehensible outing of innocent men?

It's not clearly written.

 

Bunch of hypocrites! The lot of them!

 

That's so interesting! And some student feels sorry for him, "He has to be one of the most misunderstood professors I've ever had."

 

“Tracey said he was enraged when he found out private investigator Ollie Gray, who had encouraged Tracey to keep writing Karr, leaked some of the e-mails to a newspaper last week.â€

Infighting in the Ramsey camp; finger pointing, blame shifting-ya gotta love it! The best thing that could happen is for the RST to implode....

“The Ramseys came looking for him after he wrote a 1997 opinion piece in the Boulder newspaper. A family attorney told him Patsy Ramsey wanted to speak to his journalism class, Tracey said.â€

Well, doesn’t that say it all? Tracy has been hell-bent trying to prove Ramsey innocence which is a far cry from finding an intruder. What else is new? Love the student commentary...