BOB GARFIELD: The disappearance of Laci Peterson on Christmas Eve, 2002 in Modesto, California deluged the local media. Soon after, the tale of the much-loved woman in her 8th month of pregnancy went national. When it emerged that her husband Scott had been carrying on with another woman, he became the chief suspect. By the time he was charged, the judge agreed with his defense attorney that the jury pool in Modesto was tainted. So he moved the trial to Redwood City. But of course when Peterson's trial moved, the media circus moved with it. Reporter Kathy McAnally has the story. [TV MOVIE PROMO CLIP AIRS] [SIREN] ACTOR PORTRAYING SCOTT PETERSON: The whole country thinks that I murdered my wife and my son.

ANNOUNCER: See the untold story of...

KATHY McANALLY:Former fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson has been on the cover of People magazine, and the focus of exclusives in the National Enquirer. The USA Network made a TV movie about him. The Perfect Husband aired just three weeks before real life jury selection began. [NEWS CLIP COLLAGE FOLLOWS]

NEWS ANCHOR: ...Redwood City Rusty Dornan covering the Scott Peterson trial. Rusty?

REPORTER: Well Kyra, it looks like we do have a judge in this case. It was decided the judge...

WOMAN: ...but that will not stop the sordid details of the case from becoming public.

KATHY McANALLY: So far, about 500 Peterson trial press credentials have been issued. Bronwyn Hogan is the public information officer for the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department.

BRONWYN HOGAN: A lot of local media, obviously; there's some European press agencies that are represented. We have one represented from GQ magazine who asked to be credentialed.

KATHY McANALLY: Hogan notes that most stories of husbands charged with killing their wives and children don't translate into banner headlines and huge TV ratings.

BRONWYN HOGAN: There is another inmate in the San Mateo County Jail who's facing three counts of homicide for the death of his pregnant wife, their unborn child and his 4 year old daughter. It's always difficult to say why one case appeals to the public or to the media more than the other.

KATHY McANALLY: But John McManus who runs a project called Grade The News at Stanford University thinks he knows why.

JOHN McMANUS: I think the Peterson tragedy is a perfect case of what I would call market-driven journalism. It's a story that the marketers who now run many newsrooms search for. This case had all the elements that promised a tragedy they could really cash in on, and those elements are a handsome suburban couple, adultery, you had a pregnant woman missing on Christmas Eve, you had enormous sentimentality.

KATHY McANALLY: McManus says he abhors the media frenzy surrounding the Peterson story and the willingness to exploit it.

JOHN McMANUS: This is a tragedy. This is a family that's exploded. And just to cynically market that to fill a hotel, to fill a bar, is really distressing to me as somebody who, who cares about news.

KATHY McANALLY: Before the trial moved, several cities marketed themselves as the perfect place to hold it. Once Redwood City got the nod, officials in news organizations haggled like fishwives over the price of space in the media village. There's the constant hum of generators on the street bordering the courthouse. It's been closed to regular traffic for weeks now to make way for huge TV satellite trucks. Since seating in the courthouse is limited, the vast majority of reporters must pace outside, waiting for someone connected to the case to show up with a sound bite. On this day, Scott Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos is expected, as technicians discuss where to set up microphones.

MAN: Well just - you see the problem is [...?...] a couple of reporters have decided they want to talk to him over there - then everybody's going to run--

MAN: They'll all be in front of him?

MAN: I just - yeah - can we just, like, make a deal and we'll just all do it over here?

KATHY McANALLY: Defender Garagos is a no-show, but reporters spot Prosecutor James Brazelton crossing the courthouse plaza--

MAN: What do you think of the billboards along the freeway--

MAN: I haven't seen that.

MAN: -- with pictures of Scott Peterson in his jail jumpsuit and talking about whether he is guilty in this - asking people to vote on it; it's really raising the profile--

MAN: I think it's, I think it's totally inappropriate.

MAN: Are you worried about the USA...

KATHY McANALLY: Billboards showing Peterson in his orange prison jumpsuit were the brainchild of a local radio station. Man or Monster? - they screamed.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOME: There's a lot of interest in this, and you wonder, is it the media creating it or is it the viewers out there who really seem to just be insatiable in terms of their desire to have coverage on this case.

KATHY McANALLY: That's Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsome, an on-camera legal analyst for Court TV, CNN and ABC News. She predicts that Peterson's own words and old TV interviews earnestly proclaiming his loyalty to Laci will be played back in court.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOME: You have the media playing such a large role, because you've got this TV movie, you have all the extended coverage of it, and you have Scott Peterson talking extensively to the press, and you can bet that that's going to be used in the court against him.

KATHY McANALLY: Guilfoyle Newsome used to be a prosecutor. Her work on the infamous San Francisco dog-mauling case got her lots of TV face time and a new career as a broadcaster.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOME: I mean we've seen back to back, day in and day out coverage of this Peterson case, and it's really been quite remarkable, and you don't see any letup. I mean I've been on Larry King about it so many times, all the different networks, and the viewership is just enormous. The ratings are huge for these types of cases, and I think really why it is, it's like reality television -- this is like murder mysteries, but they're real.

KATHY McANALLY: And what's real for Scott Peterson is that he's on trial for his life. For On the Media, I'm Kathy McAnally. [MUSIC]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Coming up, spin sisters, sisters with attitude, and 12 foolproof ways to tighten your abs.

BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media, from NPR.