Trial by Media: the Betrayal of the First Amendment’s Purpose

Phillipson, G.

Trial by Media: the Betrayal of the First Amendment’s Purpose

Phillipson, G.

Authors

G. Phillipson

Abstract

There is continuing concern in the United States about the kind of media storms that swirl around high-profile criminal proceedings such as the Sam Sheppard case,3 the O.J. Simpson trial,4 or the Duke lacrosse case.5 The knowledge that the transformation of the sober and impartial investigation of guilt into a grotesque media “carnival”6 could probably happen nowhere in the Western world other than the United States reminds us again of the distinctiveness of First Amendment jurisprudence; but the difference in this instance seems to arouse more mixed feelings in Americans than usual. As will appear below, the pernicious effect of media reportage upon public perceptions of the guilt of high-profile defendants,7 with a possible concomitant effect upon the fairness of trials, now seems to be fairly widely accepted.

Citation

Phillipson, G. (2008). Trial by Media: the Betrayal of the First Amendment’s Purpose. Law and contemporary problems, 71(4), 15-30

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2008
Deposit Date	Jul 14, 2011
Publicly Available Date	Jan 8, 2013
Journal	Law and Contemporary Problems
Print ISSN	0023-9186
Publisher	Duke University School of Law
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	71
Issue	4
Pages	15-30
Keywords	Free speech, Fair trials, Contempt.
Publisher URL	http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol71/iss4/