I thoroughly recommend the new documentary Amanda Knox to anyone interested in either human nature or the role of the media – which should include most of us. Here is the chance to hear the main protagonists tell their stories. Don’t be put off by the lukewarm reviews. Journalists don’t much like this film because it reveals so much about how journalism works – and it isn’t pretty.
The man feeding the media monster in the Knox case was Giuliano Mignini, the local prosecutor. He shifts uneasily in his chair as he justifies a series of poor decisions that led to Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito’s wrongful incarceration for four years for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Mignini gives every impression of being a man whose rigid Catholic upbringing left him easily persuaded that life is a struggle between good and evil, innocence and depravity. Knox did not conform to his idea of a good girl, so she had to be punished.
But more fascinating still is Nick Pisa, the Daily Mail’s thoroughly repellent reporter. His interview, in which he revels in his discredited scoops, suggests a man who lacks even the faintest trace of empathy. Here is an individual who dwells entirely on the surface. If there is a monster in this tale (aside from the real murderer, Rudy Guede), it is Pisa.
Following the film’s release, Pisa has found himself caught up in a twitter storm of disapproval for his ugly behaviour. Most of the outrage, however, misses the mark.
It would be…