American Court Coverage..........

red indian · Nov 4, 2003

.....I am amazed watching coverage of the Coby Briant and Lacey Peterson cases, it is so different to the U.K. If cases were covered like this over here Hannity and Combs and all the rest of them would find themselves serving time at her Majesty,s pleasure!! our coverage is very tightly controlled, especially after charges have been made. Then the whole case is basically closed down to the public untill it goes to trial,and then limited coverage by the press is allowed.

I have a friend who is a journalist for major British news paper and it is incredable how much he knows about all kinds of current court cases,but he will not print a word of what he knows untill he is sure he will not be in "contempt of court" or guilty of "subjudicy"

It is unbelievable to me to watch these TV guys almost running an alternative court at the same time as the case is going on, and talking to lawers and witnesses who are invloved in the case, it seems highly questionable to me, and i cant help wondering if it is bad for your justice system.

I would like to hear what you Americans have to say on this subject.

Neutron · Nov 4, 2003

Fuck 'Em..

They're guilty anyway.

Tron

His Divine Shadow · Nov 5, 2003

Freedom of the press is holy scripture over here, and many Americans seem to enjoy watching these people on trial (or trials about them). Maybe it's just an American thing.

Haltickling · Nov 5, 2003

Cameras are absolutely forbidden in German courtrooms, at least during a trial. Sure, there are reporters, and they're free to discuss publicly what happened in court. However, German TV coverage of trials isn't nearly as extensive as in USA. But as a matter of fact, we DO have a lot of courtroom TV serials, but that's just acting on imaginary cases.

red indian · Nov 5, 2003

Interesting to compare........

........we have just about the opposite situation going on right now in the U.K. It is almost surreal, we have a court case right now where the TV and press guys all know a great deal of detail about the case, including who has brought the prosecution and who is being accused of a crime and what the crime is. However because of reporting restrictions imposed by the courts all they can tell us (the public) is.....well...er ....we have this legal case and its something about the royal familly....and ...er...well thats all we can tell you.

Compare that to the U.S. approach, they would be in someones house by now taking pictures of some poor sods laundry basket!

JoBelle · Nov 6, 2003

Laundry basket!! Isn't that the truth! 😀

Like I said when we chatted about this before, I think the court of public opinion is just about as important to the average American these days as whether or not someone actually comitted a crime! This is why I don't watch T.V. I turn on the news to hear about the world, and instead I get some basketball player, who is treated like a god by his followers and the story about how he allegedly raped a girl. Whothe hell cares??? We've gone so overboard as a culture.

First, you have to understand that NO ONE in America is EVER guilty of a crime. Even if he did it. However, once the apparent idiots on the jury convict you, the party jsut begins. Once you commit the crime, and are sentenced....you have hordes of people in the "court of CNN" trying to have a sentence overturned, or a petition signed in favor of or against someone. It's pathetic.

There is actually a petition being circulated around Louisiana right now in an effort to get enough signatures to impress Bush and hoping he will do something about getting the ex governor of the state out of jail! It's crazy!

I can understand that when a life is on the line....*that old CP discussion that should be avoided on the TMF at all costs 😉 *....that people would rally to show an opinion. BUT---BUT!!!! Someone can't be convicted of robbing a convenience store here nowadays without getting the press involved. A 20 year old guy gets arrested for smoking a joint and it makes the headline news. It's just another case of how we Americans feel we are due not only our fair shake, but the time, energy, and efforts of everyone else to prove that ewven though we're guilty, we shouldn't be punished.

I genuinely believe that the press does a major disservice to a Constitution already being bastardized by the powers that be who are more intereted in their image than in the reality and neccesity of observing the system of justice with an open eye rather than an open hand.

I can't imagine that any case in the US has been fairly tried in that last 25 years. Sad, considering my stance on CP. Grrr, I hate it when I have to rethink things I have set in stone.

There are a few things in the world I can say with whole heart honesty that I truely hate. Journalists are one of them. I've yet to see what I'd consider to be an honest one....and I doubt I ever will.

BLAHHHHHHHH.....I'm moving to Tahiti.

Joby
:sowrong:

Strelnikov · Nov 6, 2003

Actually, Joby, there are cases tried honestly: they're the cases reported below the fold on Page 3 of the Metro section in your newspaper. Usually some sad sack who nobody cares about, who (like Neutron said) is guilty anyway.

The high profile case in this town right now is the upcoming trial of HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard Scrushy, a rotten scumbag thief who got rich ($285 million) by defrauding his investors. He has been indicted in Federal court on about 200 fraud charges. Half the management of his company is already in jail, mostly by plea bargain.

Scrushy managed to get on "60 Minutes" a few weeks ago to plead his case and prejudice potential jurors. Opinion polls afterward said that the viewing public thinks he's a liar, so maybe it will backfire on him. I hope so, and I hope the Feds will make an example of him and put his ass under the jail. But I won't hold my breath until that happens.

Strelnikov

phfttklr · Nov 6, 2003

Because, people have this "need to know" about them. It's the same with all these Reality T.V. shows, people have to know what's going on in other peoples lives. Who did what, with whom, where and why? The media is just as much to blame, taking advantage of the publics interest. Most will put it out on the air or in the newspaper and magazine to gain notoriety for "getting the information out first", whether it be true or not. I, for one, could care less which celebrity was seen kissing which celebrity or what two people were( oooh, do I dare say it? )SHOPPING TOGETHER!! We might have a better society if people spent as much time with their children as they do looking into the lives of others. Besides, how else is one suppose to make a fortune on a book deal, if they can't exploit their airtime after all the courtroom drama or jailtime? 😛

I have a big problem with the friggin' networks, while I'm on rant about the media. What is the deal with putting Monday Night Football on at 9:00? I know it's all about the lead-in and Prime Time and money and blah, blah, blah but don't they realize people on the East Coast need to go to bed before 1:00 a.m.??!! :sowrong:

The East Coast has more than twice as many teams. What's worse, somone from the West missing a part of the beginning of a game or somone from the East missing the end of a game? The World Series is missed by a lot kids also because of this media plague.

Death to the networks!! :ignite: