Bad publicity: does it exist?

On October 3, 2011, Amanda Knox was acquitted of the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher. The two girls had lived in an apartment in Perugia, Italy, where they both were completing an exchange program at the university.

In November 2007, Kercher was discovered dead in a pool of blood in her bedroom. Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested a few days later and charged with the murder.

In 2009, both Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder. They were sentenced to 26 and 25 year respectively for what the press called “cold-blooded murder.” A third defendant, Rudy Hermann Guede, was also convicted. His 16-year prison sentence is still being upheld by Italy's highest court.

Today, Knox is back home in Seattle. She plans to eventually return to university and complete her degree. She also has started writing a memoir about the experience, which is based on the journal she kept throughout her four-year incarceration.

An emotional Knox during a brief press conference in Seattle after returning home...*

There is also talk that Knox is considering offers from U.S. television networks to give an interview in a deal that could run to millions of dollars.

Ex-boyfriend Sollecito will apparently travel to Seattle to visit Knox in the near future, and rumours are circulating that she has also reunited with a pre-Perugia boyfriend.

All in all, things aren’t looking too bad for Knox at the moment.

This brings me to the question that has been bothering me since I heard about the verdict last week: Is there such a thing as bad publicity?

I’m not saying that Knox hasn’t gone through hell over the past few years. I can’t imagine how horrible prison, a guilty verdict and a potential 26 years behind bars must have felt for her. But now that she’s free, Knox will be able to make millions of dollars as a result of her experiences.

Some people believe she is guilty; others always professed her innocence. Either way, Knox is now a public figure who will be written about, followed and asked to appear in interviews for years to come. Even though the reason for the publicity is negative, she still will be getting attention.

And some people will accept attention of any kind…

I plan to continue following Knox’s story as it unfolds in the United States. Most importantly, I want to see how Knox handles herself, her re-entry into life, and of course, the publicity she is offered.

*Image taken from Google.