Celebrity Trials

It is important to have television cameras in courtrooms as it has several advantages. In real televised case trials, attorneys create a new sense of hardworking, effective and reasonable attorneys. Whereas in a fictional trial, the main aim of the show is to be dramatic. It is through television that the trial is accessible to all regardless of whether a person attended the trial or not as all people are able to follow the proceedings as they are watching at the comfort of their homes. As the media covers a given trial, the people are able to understand and see how the criminal justice system operates and executes their judgment and hence allowing them to gain confidence in the criminal justice system. Moreover, use of television cameras in court enables people to gather facts on their own and hence is not likely to be exploited by the bias covered by the news stations. It is important to record the events and the proceedings during the trial as this will enable the court to safely retrieve the already recorded parts of the case where they are able to replay the parts especially during appeals (Neubauer & Meinhold, 2012). However, having television cameras in courtrooms also has its own set of disadvantages. It is important to note that the exposure of a trial to the public puts the case art a risk of receiving prejudices of the trial and ultimately, the general public may reach to a conclusion where they may acquit a person as guilty or rather innocent. In addition, prejudices on the interpretation of law are received in appeal courts who observe the videotaped trial proceedings. Also, television cameras showing the proceedings may exaggerate some of the elements of the case. This may also affect the judges of the case as they may also be victims of manipulation by the public views and hence may end up giving judgments that are in favor of the public’s view (Neubauer & Meinhold, 2012). 

More than often, a celebrity usually makes a defendant to at the very least receive a fair trial following the great media coverage and public interest in the case. The media is responsible for inclining the case in opposition to the celebrity. In other scenarios, the media may establish sympathy for the accused. Among the high profile celebrity cases in the past years, none of the cases dealt with critical issues that were of national importance. These cases were just normal cases just like other common cases committed by a common man, however, these cases usually gained media attention and public interest and hence the cases were not a representation of the normal judicial trial proceedings. Stewart’s story while in prison was newsworthy. This is because celebrities usually make news regardless of how small it may seem but it actually forms a headline. Her story actually acted as a lesson about the equal criminal justice and her story became an empowerment about the correctional system and to be more specific on the women in prison (Cecil, 2007). One of the most pressing emerging issues in the modern media is the urge to convey big ratings that attract higher revenues and in this case, Stewart being a celebrity created interest among people as compared to that of a violent or predator’s trial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Cecil, D. K. (2007). Doing time in “Camp Cupcake”: Lessons learned from newspaper accounts of Martha Stewart’s incarceration. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 14(2), 142-160.

Neubauer, D, W & Meinhold, S, S. (2012). Judicial Process: Law, Courts, and Politics in the United States, Cengage.