NCJ Number
95450
Date Published
1983
Length
211 pages
Annotation
This text focuses on mass media reporting of crime and examines the conflicts between the media and the courts.
Abstract
The standards formulated by the American Bar Association to guide law enforcement news releases are described, and the reaction of the news media is analyzed. Efforts at reconciliation by both the bar and the press, including local bar, bench, and press councils, are reported. Safeguards against the effects of prejudicial news are explored, and such terms as continuance, change of venue, voir dire, and sequestration are defined. The object of the courts, which is to protect a defendant even at heavy expense and personal inconvenience to jurors, is compared with the object of the media, which is to maintain maximum opportunity for news dissemination at minimum risk of juror contamination. The Supreme Court's 1966 order that all civil and criminal trials be open and its placement of the burden on the moving party at a trial to justify closure is discussed. Use of cameras in the courtroom is considered, along with arguments that cameras in court make no effort to tell the complete trial story and therefore distort the cases covered. Evidence suggests that the Supreme Court, and not the professional press, will continue to set the standards for the reporting of crime news, just as it has done since 1966. Approximately 46 references are provided, as is a bibliography of about 150 documents.