Documentary examining the role of the US media turning news stories into 'commercial products' to be sensationalized and sold to the public.

The first of a trilogy of documentaries, this film examines the way the US media had reported the killing. From the outset the media - encouraged by local police - pursued the parents and declared them guilty. The process revealed a dangerous drift in the US toward seeing news stories as 'commercial products': productions to be deliberately fashioned to maximize the financial profit that may be made out of them. The days when the news divisions of the American networks were protected from such financial pressures have long gone.