Gerard Baden Clay Case
The tragic story of Gerard Baden Clay fits the criteria of newsworthiness. When Gerard Baden Clay called the police on April 2012 to report his wife’s missing, he did some of the things that raised doubts about the missing case thus resulting him to be selected as the prime suspect in the murder of Allison. The court ruled that there lacked sufficient evidence to prove that Baden-Clay intentionally killed his wife. This ruling has sparked a public agitation as they regard the ruling to be unjust (ABC news, 2016, N. P).
Statistically, 36% of all homicide cases in Australia over the years, 2008-2010 were domestic related. Most of these cases are classified as those that have been committed by intimate partners. However, though the intimate partner homicide may be the actual cause of domestic violence, in most of the scenarios the incidents are not reported as domestic violence. According to Jewkes (2011), editors and journalists will choose a case and present the news according to the widespread professional criteria that are used as measures of determining a story’s newsworthiness. Gerard Baden Clay case was that of an intimate partner homicides case but it, however, posed a challenge for the investigators since the police had to determine whether the case was actually a committed offense or whether the victim had just gone missing where she experienced a premature death. The victim’s body was not discovered for about seven days and when it was found, it became more crucial as the forensic examination failed to offer a clear cause of death. Intimate partner cases are often associated with lies from the offenders and this is the leading factor that causes the investigators to look into the partner as a prime suspect as in most cases there lacks evidence on the cause of death as it happened in Baden-Clay case. It is from this that the police regard the case to be a motive case and thus they all work towards identifying the motive behind the criminal act as most people kill with intent.
Not all crime stories make a headline as some happen and only attract minimal media attention while other cases attract a huge media attention that can even last for a longer period. Some of the major reasons as to why these cases attract media attention is that they are cases that have a high social value, high popularity, sexual influence and a case surrounding children. Gerard Baden Clay case had all of these elements and actually, it became more enticing during the police briefings during the process of investigation and into live blogging especially during the court hearing. All of these news sources fitted perfectly into the daily news cycle. According to Jewkins’ elements of news value that makes scenario newsworthy, this particular case had the captivating elements of a newsworthy case. The cause of death was not determined, the victim was glamorous, the issue on Baden mistress, the monetary constraints and to an extent, the pretense of having a happy and a normal couple increased to the trickery. The one by one releasing of the information on this particular case during the investigation and the hearing sustained the public attention in the case. According to Jewkins, he argues that the media more than often requires a spectacle which enables them to offer a visual and dramatic influence on the audience. For instance, Baden had face scratches and the media greatly used the pictures that were taken during the briefs so as to support their theory. Hence there was more to the story and this maintained the public interest hence resulting to the media regarding the case as newsworthy. The case was not all about sensational media story but it rather was all about the loss of a mother and thus the case also involved her daughter.
This case has demonstrated to be a trial by media form of a case where the public judgment was influenced by the media coverage of the case. This caused an outrage over the case’s manslaughter verdict as they regarded as hysteria as it was being driven by a trial by media. The extraordinary interest in this case and the extremely high media coverage on this case prompted the Judge to invoke a seldom-used power in order to question the attitudes of the prospective jurors towards the defendant. This case dragged down into a manslaughter case through a unanimous decision which was made by the Queensland Court of Appeal (Hews et al, 2017, 1608). This decision was followed by the Court of appeal led to a high public outcry and in response to this, the Queensland Director appealed to the high court of Australia for a reinstatement of Baden-Clay’s murder conviction. It is thus important to note that the publicity that surrounded the case during the trial and also during the investigation could not at any time be ignored by the court.
This extraordinary publicity was caused by the criticism offered by the media in their coverage and some of the ill-formed comments that led the media to have more of sensational coverage which played a big role in the jury’s verdict. However, we can all conclude that the media coverage, in this case, was quite extreme and thus the impact that this publicity had on the ruling of this case was big as it even led to a correction by the court of appeal which according to the public was necessary and inevitable. This case, therefore, raises questions about the potential for the biased information on the social media and the influence it had on the verdict (Hews et al, 2017, 1608).
According to Warren’s chief justice discussion on justice, it is argued that justice means different things to different parties. To ordinary people, for instance, the public in the case surrounding the Baden Clay case, they regarded justice to mean due punishment to Gerard Baden-Clay, the offender when he was sentenced for the crime. To the media covering the case of Baden Clay case, they regarded justice to be served when a harsh punishment was given and when the primary focus was on the strong retribution and deterrence. Justice to Baden Clay, the offender meant fairness through a just court hearing and sentencing that does not punish him cruelly. Unfortunately, the sense of impartiality for Baden Clay was susceptible and an issue of sensation and also pressure.
Criminal offenses such as when a person is murdered just like Allison provoke profound and enduring grief. It is as a result of this grief that the public and the family members are intrigued to fight for justice for Allison. However, to some of the philosophers in the same case, justice to them was based on morality and is equated with fairness (Fox, 2000, 1). The lawyers in the case expected justice to prevail by the rule of law as this is the conviction of implementing the legal laws that had been developed over the years to offer solutions to disputes amongst citizens. Justice to the judges also aimed at applying the rule of law in the case without fear of favor or rather affection. Judges in the case of Baden-Clay attracted differences of public opinion which was a good thing but their obligation was based on liberty from public opinion and thus their decision was accounted to law and also applied the standards of the society to which they were part of. It is true that the committing a cruel and violent crime such as the case of Baden-Clay offends a society and hence any representation in regards to the case will call upon the criminal justice system to verdict a just degree of sentence for Baden (ABC news, 2016, N. P). Thus in most cases, such as murder-related cases, the prosecutor often in favor of the society in influencing a much longer sentence. The outcome of the case, however, did not favor all of these parties as the verdict was handed down basing on the rule of law of Queensland (ABC news, 2016, N. P). It is as a result of this that the Queensland prosecution has alleged an appeal to the high court seeking that the high court would reconsider reinstating the original verdict of murder on Baden-Clay. However, it is important to recognize and protect the human rights regardless of whether a person is an offender or the victim as it is only through this that equality is enhanced.
References
Hews, R. and Suzor, N., 2017. Scum of the Earth: An Analysis of the Prejudicial Twitter Conversations during the Baden-Clay Murder Trial. UNSWLJ, 40, p.1604.
ABC News (2016). Gerard Baden-Clay murder conviction reinstated by High Court. Retrieved from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-31/gerard-baden-clay-murder-conviction-to-stand-high-court/7800556
JEWKES, Y. (2011). Media and crime. London, SAGE.
FOX, R. (2000). Justice in the twenty-first century. London, Cavendish Pub. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10272969.
