Essay on "Media in the Courtroom High"

Essay 3 pages (1050 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Just the opposite, they "saw only the best highlights from the arguments, the most compelling of the witness testimonies and a host of evidence (only some of which was ever admitted in court and presented to the jury)," and then followed the lead of TV commentators and talking heads in deciding that she was guilty (Ferguson 2011). Then Americans sat in their living rooms, pieced together everything they saw, and convicted Casey Anthony in the court of public opinion. Perhaps she really was guilty, but few of the TV viewers had seen all the evidence and heard all the arguments that the twelve jurors had. Rightly or wrongly, after considering all this evidence they decided that they could not find her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, even though the negative TV coverage of Anthony was intense. Indeed, they could not even agree to convict her of manslaughter, negligent homicide or any other major felony, so according to the principles of the American criminal justice system, she must go free.

Most of the TV commentators and the overwhelming majority of viewers were absolutely enraged and the jury and convinced that justice had not been done for little Caylee Anthony. After all, even Casey Anthony's parents were on TV all the time claiming that she was guilty, although the actual jury did not find their testimony convincing. TV cameras in the courtroom had convinced the public that they knew "more about the case than any of the twelve who sat through the whole trial," and the news media made a great deal of money from the Anthony case by appealing to sensationalism and emotionalism (Ferguson 2011). Moreover, because of the cameras in the courtroom, Casey Anthony will never be able to go out in public again without being recognized, and she would never have become a minor celebrity in her own right, at least getting her fifteen minutes of fame. Whether she wanted this or not, she has it now and always will, but this would not have happened if the trial had only been covered by the print media and courtroom sketch artists.

In the end, one of the worst effects of TV cameras in the courtroom is that it trivializes and sensationalizes the entire criminal justice system, turning it into an instant made-for-TV movie. Cameras turn judges, jurors, lawyers and defendants into actors and celebrities, blurring the lines between the law and entertainment. These televised trials certainly provide money and fame for the participants, and for the journalists and pundits who cover them, but they also threaten to undermine the system of equal justice under the law and the right to due process and a fair trial. For that reason, judges would do better to issue gag orders in all of these cases.

REFERENCES

Ferguson, R. 2011. "Cameras in the Courtroom." The American Spectator.

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/19/cameras-in-the-courtroom

Mesereau, T.A. 2011. "Effectively Handling High-Profile and Celebrity Cases." Los Angeles Lawyer, Survival Guide for New Attorneys in California, Fall 2011 Issue

http://www.mesereauyu.com/los-angeles-lawyer-effectively-handling-high-profile-and-celebrity-cases READ MORE

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