NCJ Number
95783
Date Published
1984
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The most important steps in the development of a responsible policy of television court coverage are a systematic assessment of the impact of current coverage on the legal process and a study of the television coverage presented to mass audiences.
Abstract
Significant components of the courtroom process are negotiated through social interaction. Criteria emerge through such interactions and, in some cases, become institutionalized. Thus, the officially proclaimed rules of evidence, procedures of conduct, and public symbols of justice are socially constructed and applied to other problematic situations. Both television news accounts and courtroom activities occur in a dramatic context and have a dramatic form. The content of the resulting message includes the manner in which it is presented. The people presenting the information try to make it convincing, interesting, and even entertaining to their audiences. Aspects of television coverage that are of concern are the selection of the theme or angle from which to present the story, the possibility that courtroom participants will reconstruct their story lines so as to interest the media, and the types of cases covered. Moreover, pretrial coverage may influence jurors and crucial witnesses. Studies of these and other issues should start immediately. Thirty-five references are listed.