The Strauss-Kahn media circus begins

By: Michelle Miller
Topics: In The News ,; Notebook ,; Observations

Journalists who can fit inside the over-flowing courtroom where the arraignment of IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is scheduled to take place Monday, May 16, 2011.

/ CBS

There's something about the first day of a media circus.

At its core, the memorable ones usually concern sex, politics or money.

But unlike Michael Jackson, Bernie Madoff or Bill Clinton, the case against one of the world's most powerful banking figures involves all three.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is charged with attempted rape for allegedly sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid in his $3,000-a-night hotel suite in New York City.

A well-known player in international economic circles, he's been called the go-to guy for the world's financial troubles. As head of the International Monetary Fund, Stauss-Kahn was scheduled to meet with European leaders today to discuss the European debt crisis.

Instead, he sits in a Manhattan courtroom facing criminal charges.

IMF head submits to DNA test in sex attack probe
Lawyer: IMF head denies N.Y. sex-assault charges

An IMF insider told CBS News that Strauss-Kahn had righted the International Monetary Fund ship after poor performances by the last two managing directors. "He's done an excellent job," she said, in an institution which depends on hierarchical leadership. Now with first deputy managing director John Lipsky filling in, there is familiar leadership at the helm, but, she said, "We're still floored. It just doesn't sound like him."

Whether the sexual assault allegations against him are true, at the very least millions tuning into network news coverage or reading the headlines will associate him as the twice-divorced, self-admitted philanderer nicknamed "the Great Seducer."

That alone wouldn't have dashed the politician's hopes of becoming the next President of France. Nor, apparently had rumors that he allegedly groped a TV journalist several years ago during an interview. According to Le Monde, the center-left Socialist Party member was leading in the polls against incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

What has transpired in the last two days since Strauss-Kahm's arrest is a stalling of his arraignment, now going on 24 hours.

Hundreds of international journalists, speaking a myriad of languages, have awaited his bail hearing - every two hours being updated that it will take place in the next two.

All of those journalists who are locked out of the overflowing courtroom are getting their info via TWEETS from reporters who managed to get inside.

For now, the debt crisis will linger on without him, markets are shuddering in the fallout, and the media circus will follow the sexual intrigue surrounding the alleged misdeeds of a 62-year-old man, once responsible for handling the money problems of the world.

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by linkcom April 25, 2012 11:08 PM EDT: the IMF can do http://www.pcbatterie.com/ sleight of hand maneuvers to obscure a slide in the economy so no one knows what is going on until it is too late.; Reply to this comment


by welcomehomethomaas May 19, 2011 11:33 AM EDT: Hold your head high, Katie. You did a excellent job at CBS. But they overworked you {managing editor too}.; Reply to this comment


by kenhamlett May 17, 2011 3:55 PM EDT: It must be pointed out that he is not the "Go To Guy" for getting the world out of a financial crisis. He was the one in charge of the IMF portion of the scam which put us all in the financial crisis.
While not exactly the same as our Federal Reserve, the IMF can do sleight of hand maneuvers to obscure a slide in the economy so no one knows what is going on until it is too late.
When one calls a participant in a crisis a savior, regardless of the wording, it reminds me of 1984.; Reply to this comment