Money Doesn't Trump All

Guess you’ve all heard Robert Murdoch has cancelled the book in which, supposedly, O.J. Simpson was to give a fictional account of how he would have murdered his ex-wife, if he had done it. Not only did the publisher cancel the book (and, according to some news reports, shredded copies), News Corp, which owns both ReganBooks and the Fox network, cancelled the television special with O.J. Simpson.

They’ve come to their senses. But they didn’t come to it on their own. The American public caused this turn of events. The backlash against the book and TV interview was enough to cause bookstores who had ordered the book, sight-unseen for most, to decide not to sell the book or to sell it but donate profits. The uproar continued and even Fox stations began to cancel out on carrying the interview.

Then finally, Murdoch cancelled the book and News Corp cancelled the TV special. I don’t know, maybe they had an epiphany and realized what they should have from the beginning – this was a bad, bad idea. More likely, in my opinion, they saw how the public had turned against them and realized this had become a publicity nightmare. Although, I’m sure in the beginning, they thought this would be a huge profit-producing book. They probably now realize that profits from the book would be seriously tainted. No profit, even a loss, would be better for them in the long run.

We, the public, made a difference. Good, common sense and decency ruled. And money did not, for once, trump all.