BOB GARFIELD: We're back with On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And I'm Brooke Gladstone. This week we learned that Montgomery County, Maryland Police Chief Charles Moose will be writing a book called Three Weeks in October. Those three weeks, you cannot have forgotten, are those when the country was transfixed by a series of sniper murders in the nation's capital. British freelance producer Mary-Jane Robinson had a front row seat as the story unfolded last fall. Her documentary team had exclusive access to police headquarters, and she watched the American media through the eyes of a foreigner. Mary-Jane, welcome to the show!

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: Thank you very much for having me!

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Can you compare and contrast the British news media with that of the American press? What's the big difference you noticed?

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: That news is more like info-tainment - it, it's tune-in-to-the-sniper -- sit down and come home and, and let's watch the latest in--installment of what's going on, rather than being analytical or providing any debate, it was all about kind of hyperbole, hyping up the situation, creating a culture of fear.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: As a British news consumer, do you say that spectacle doesn't occur in the British press?

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: Not-- in my mind to that extent. I'm sure it - that that is equally competitive, but I think because you have the First Amendment and the freedom of information, what the press can demand and ask for and put out is a lot more open. So that, that leaves it wide open for this competitive atmosphere, whereas in the UK the police don't have to tell you that information; that things will be with--withheld. In fact if you put that information out, there's a law of sub judice which means that you will most likely be put on trial because you will be jeopardizing any future trial or investigation into that story. So I mean you, you can't put out the level of information that, that you can in the U.S.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now by the time the sniper had killed 10 and critically wounded 3, you comment in your film that the media had outnumbered the police and were starting to actually hamper the investigation! [SOUND CLIP OF REPORTERS CONFERRING PLAYS]

MALE REPORTER: Who knows? He could have called. He could have not called. They got a tip. Nobody knows!

MALE REPORTER: Yes, but something has happened just now --something took them off. They were supposed to have this briefing--

MALE REPORTER: Hey, Don. Dennis here. Listen, who do you know who's been talking about this? I got-- I got a--

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: Because of the level of competitiveness people weren't waiting to back up their sources or to back up what they were finding, so for example when you have the-- discredited witness story -- that was when there was a killing of the FBI agent and-- one - someone came forward and said that they'd seen the shooter -- and the media immediately interviewed him before the police had time to, to check his story, even though they'd expressly asked the media not to talk to witnesses. And so that everyone was then looking for this van with the broken tail light and they all thought we'd seen the shooter, and we'd had a description, and actually it turned out that this guy was lying.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: From where you were sitting, did you notice mounting tension between the media and the police?

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: Yes, certainly. Tension was mounting-- daily. [SOUND CLIP OF REPORTERS CONFERRING PLAYS]

POLICE CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE: It was just like everything that we wanted to try was put out for consumption. You know, you're kind of going well, is it like-- does the media want this to continue?

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You were fortunate to have far more access than the vast majority of the American press. What's the story you took away?

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: Personally I think it opened my eyes a lot to the sorts of news that is being reported in the States and this idea of it being kind of entertainment and perhaps feeling that this may be an extreme example because, because of the high-- profile of this case and, and the amount of coverage that it was getting. But that the American public are being done a disservice by, by their news on the whole.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Thanks very much.

MARY-JANE ROBINSON: My pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Mary-Jane Robinson is a freelance producer and director. Her documentary titled Hunting the Washington Sniper was shown on Channel Four in England just before Christmas and is likely to air somewhere on American television in the near future.