Nick Pisa: The real villain of Amanda Knox documentary

Liz Burke news.com.au @lizeburke

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OPINION

The new Amanda Knox documentary set out to “set the record straight”, but after watching the highly anticipated Netflix project, that’s just what I feel needs doing.

As a journalist, I was naturally interested in watching the program. The 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, over which her American roommate, Amanda “Foxy Knoxy” Knox, was twice convicted and acquitted, was one of the biggest news stories of our generation.

But I came out of the hour and a half spectacle gobsmacked and ashamed.

That feeling came on minutes into the documentary and coincided with the introduction of a journalist who covered the trial for British tabloid the Daily Mail, Nick Pisa.

“A murder always gets people going. Bit of intrigue, bit of mystery, a whodunit. What more do you want in a story?” the reporter says with a huge grin in his first appearance in the documentary.

Later he likens the thrill of getting a front-page story over the gruesome murder to “having sex”.

Nick Pisa is the true villain of the program. And when we’re talking about documentary exploring one of the most gruesome and shocking stabbing murders ever to make headlines, that’s saying a lot.

Pisa was among dozens of journalists dispatched to Perugia from London’s Fleet Street press and all over the world to cover the intriguing murder mystery.

Apparently a front page byline under the words KILLER ORGY ‘feels like having sex’. Picture: NetflixSource:Supplied

It was the early 2000s and the 24-hour media cycle had truly taken hold.

The British reporter was competing with his journalistic colleagues to get news out first and fast.

As he describes, reporters were looking for “any nugget, any scrap” that might make a new headline, and anything particularly salacious was gold.

He describes getting a “scoop” that led to the front page headline “KILLER ORGY”.

Pisa recalls the moment as a “fantastic buzz”, saying seeing his front page byline was “like having sex or something”.

The enthusiasm continues in his descriptions of publishing Knox’s leaked prison diaries and information being fed to him from questionable sources.

He describes information about evidence that pointed to Knox as “brilliant”.

“It’s manna from heaven, it really is,” he says.

He also explains why the beautiful, blonde, young female suspect generated far more media attention than the man who remains behind bars for Kercher’s murder.

Amanda Knox gave the story ‘sexual intrigue’. Picture: Antonio Calanni/AP PhotoSource:AP

“We’ve already had good pictures of Meredith, she was a terribly attractive woman, and now we’ve got Amanda Knox as well, pretty blonde girl, 20-something, it had that sexual intrigue, girl-on-girl crime if you like,” he says, laughing.

He says the paper gave Rudy Guede — currently serving a 30-year sentence for the crime — “the cursory coverage”, adding there was “no interest in him”.

Pisa’s unbridled excitement is disconcerting and leaves you thinking “is this guy serious?”.

There’s no sympathy and no consideration for the family of the deceased, let alone the facts.

Later in the documentary, after we hear the court’s comments that the media frenzy around the case created “a frantic search” that led to hasty arrests and flawed investigation, Pisa freely admits he didn’t bother with fact checking.

What do you want me to do? Check facts? Pfft. Picture: NetflixSource:Supplied

“I think now, looking back, some of the information that came out was just crazy really, it’s just completely made up,” he says.

“But hey, what are we supposed to do? We are journalists, and we are reporting what we are being told. It’s not as if I can say, all right hold on a minute I just want to double check that myself in some other way, I mean goodness knows how.”

Sorry mate, but that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.

Sure, every reporter gets a bit of a buzz out of making a splash, but when it’s a serious story, you keep that to yourself and concern and the search for truth should prevail.

Nick Pisa’s absurd performance confuses and entertains throughout the film, but perhaps the most disquieting moment comes at the doco’s end notes.

But please, when you see the words “Nick Pisa still works in journalism” flash across the screen, remember: We’re not all that bad.