The Marich Case

Bob and Marietta Marich’s son Michael made a sad, stupid and fatal mistake that was accompanied by the ultimate price (“A Family’s Pain, for All to See,” by Howard Rosenberg, Nov. 29). But the actions and total disregard by QRZ Media, QRZ executive Cynthia Shapiro and the creators of the reality based show “LAPD: Life on the Beat” toward the Marich family’s request to grieve in private were far more reprehensible.

There are proper ways to inform the public on the destructive consequences of drug abuse. The way QRZ Media has done so lacks the sensitivity and respect one would show to those that would be affected by it, and further shows the lack of common sense and responsible reporting that seems to be emergent among the news media today.

It is one thing to invoke the right to free speech when one’s right is being trampled. QRZ Media is calling upon this right, but they are doing so in a manner that shows a total indifference toward the rights of the Marich family. If the creators of “LAPD: Life on the Beat” cannot see the need for responsible and ethically just reporting in their show, then they might as well become a show geared toward the Jerry Springer crowd.

RUBEN TAMAYO

Los Angeles

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If “LAPD: Life on the Beat” had taped the shooting of Officer Brian Brown, the courageous policeman who gave his life last month, I highly doubt that QRZ Media would air footage of his dead body, much less tape and air a phone call to his family informing them of his death.

It wouldn’t be tolerated because Brown was a decorated Marine and a good cop who gave his life to protect and serve, while to the LAPD and QRZ Michael Marich is just a dead drug abuser. If he’d just remained dead and worthless like they’d originally cast him, the show would’ve hummed along and gathered another week of advertising revenue without incident. But Marich turned out to be an intelligent young man with a family who loved him and famous friends.

Brown and Marich were both young men with great futures who died in the prime of their lives and are desperately missed by families who would do anything to get them back. In that sense they are, and we are, the same. It’s that sameness between all of us that needs to be at the core of reality television, which can create bridges instead of gulfs that separate.

DONALD BULL

Studio City

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The idea that individuals in the entertainment business can profit from the most intense personal tragedies of fellow citizens is unconscionable and I don’t need a constitutional lawyer or an ethics professor to figure it out for me.

HILARY FIELDS

Santa Monica

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The Marich family expects me to take part in their pity party--I don’t think so! I tape “LAPD: Life on the Beat” every night, because I choose my own heroes.

VINCE GAROFALO

Tarzana