Blog #8: Trial by Media

Trial by Media: How the Media affects the Outcome of Trial

 “Trial by media is a phrase popular in the late 20th century and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person's reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt or innocence before, or after, a verdict in a court of law”.

In most cases, this is only relevant when high-profile individuals stand trial, and the impartiality of the jury is potentially compromised by extraneous information that disrupts the due process and leads to an unfair trial.

While doing some research, I found this interesting article that explains how a trial by media affects the right to a fair trial by discussing a case that was highly covered by the media, how the outcome of the trial was affected and how it affected the individual involved.

One thing that I learned from this article that I didn’t know before was that if there has been an intrusion by social media, there may be consequences on legal proceedings that could possibly result in an incapacity to prosecute. Normally those who interfere with the course of justice may be charged with contempt of court, and journalists who report on a case before the court has finished dealing with it are limited in the facts that they can report about.

I think that it is really interesting how times have changed in how someone is punished for Trial by media now compared to the early 90s. For example, the O.J. Simpson case was broadcasted very heavily in the media due to him being a well-known NFL player. Many individuals already had their own point of view on him because he was famous, and these views were good and bad, but the bad began to be portrayed in the media more than the good. Media Coverage began to turn further away from telling the truth and facts about O.J. and the case and instead began to focus on reporting lies. As a result, many of the stories were being published before confirming any of the facts, which resulted in more individuals writing stories who didn’t know what they were talking about in terms of actual court proceedings.

Additionally, another article that I found interesting was one that discussed if a fair trial is possible in this age of mass media. I learned from this article that juries were first introduced in England about 800 years ago, and for one to serve on a jury, it was required that they had to know how was involved in the case and the circumstances of it. 

Over time, the concept of a jury and a trial has changed tremendously to assure fairness, and jurors today are to have little to no knowledge of the case. However, the widespread media changed the concept of the words back to how they were originally defined. Because of the media, jurors are able to know facts about criminal defendants and their alleged crimes before hearing any evidence in court.

It changes everything in the court system, and we don’t realize it. I think back to when I was younger, before I knew anything about Criminal Justice. I remember what I had heard about things on the news or radio, and I never realized how they could paint someone's image on a screen with headlines under it about what they were being accused of. Most of the time, they wouldn’t even have the whole story themselves. From that moment, we all begin to create this image of this person's face who was just broadcasted on the news without even being to hear their story. At that very moment, we all forget the meaning of “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” and the 5th amendment that states “ no one should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law”. But isn’t this exactly what we're doing when we paint an image of someone in the media before they have even appeared before a judge or jury?

It has become the new norm in the United States that a person is “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” because of the substantial amount of media coverage. We as citizens of the U.S. have to remember the history of why our Amendments were made, and most importantly, I think that sometimes we have to think, what if we were in the other person's shoes, what if our face was all over tv, newspapers, and social media, and we knew that we were innocent. It would tear us apart piece by piece, but the media never covers how it affects the accused and what makes it even more hilarious is that majority of the time, when someone is put away for half of their life, it turns out that they were innocent all along, the media hardly ever covers it because in a way they played a huge role in putting an innocent person away.

Over time, America has become more and more critical of everything because of the role of the media, and we don’t realize it. When we think about all the problems that blew up in the media, we soon begin to realize how often it creates false narratives, but you have to be susceptible to opening your eyes and have a mind of your own to see what is really going on.