Trial by Press

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Living in Bristol, I can't help but read and see reports relating to the Joanna Yates murder enquiry and its just got me thinking about how anyone accused of such a crime can ever receive a fair trial in these days of mass and constant press reports.

I'm sure at least a good portion of the press reports will have transported themselves across Britian and even Europe and I'm sure some are aware that one man had initially been arrested (but not charged) and the press jumped on this and provided column inch after column inch of details about this man.

I'm sure off the back of this many were ready to lynch this guy but to many's suprise, especially the press it seemed, this guy was released without charge. It then took a further week of pondering before the dutchman who has now been charged and appeared in court today to be initially arrested and of course the same multitude of pictures and details about this mans what was unknown life has now been laid bare for all to see.

So the question is can this guy reasonably expect a fair trial (regardless of whether he did actually comit the crime or not) considering that thanks to the press, he's already been painted as guilty?

It also poses the question of whether we actually need or lust after this 24 hour news, nitty gritty detail press reporting, or whether infact the press have it wrong and we actually shut off due to the pure saturation of news these days?

Please go forth and debate - especially the lawers or trainee lawers within the forum.

[Captain...]

One of my favourite quotes about the press is this:

"It doesn't matter how much news there is on a given day the newspapers are all the same size"

If it fills column inches then it is news the more it can fill the better.

The press in England is disgusting but I do believe that people still get a fari trial despite this, for example this man being released without charge.

When it comes to selecting a jury they should ask if you have any previous knowledge of the case, in England you are asked if you are able to be fair on this case:

The process in England and Wales simply consists of the single question: "Can you give a fair hearing to both the Crown and the defence?" Any prospective juror who affirmatively answers the question is impanelled on the jury.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_selection#England_and_Wales I realise quoting wikipedia is bad form, but damn it's good.

Press opinions shouldn't affect the trial, but it will affect people's lives, take Jamie Bulger's killers as an example, whether you agree with the sentence or not they served it they were punished and now they are trying to live their lives but there is constant press speculation and numerous attempts to out them. They have been relocated a number of times when their identities have been exposed by the press and I think it is wrong. They had a fair trial and were punished accordingly it is not the duty of the press to continue to persecute them at a cost to the taxpayers.

This has also happened to Maxine Carr

Maxine Carr was released from prison on 14 May 2004, and immediately received police protection. She won an injunction on 24 February, 2005, granting her lifelong anonymity on the grounds that her life would otherwise be in danger from lynch mobs. The costs of this have been reported by different tabloid newspapers as being between £1 million and £50 million, costs that would possibly have been unnecessary were it not for what former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade described as tabloid newspapers "whipping up the kind of public hysteria guaranteed to incite misguided people to take the law into their own hands".[23]

Some tabloids have taken to writing inaccurate articles designed to smear her, possibly because of her unusual legal position. She has been variously accused of receiving thousands of pounds worth of dental treatment at the taxpayers' expense, applying for a childcare course, negotiating a £1 million book deal with a publisher and making a series of sensational demands in order to live abroad. All these stories were untrue, but Maxine Carr was unable to make any formal response to them without jeopardising her anonymity.[24]

At least a dozen women have been brutally attacked and persecuted as a result of lynch mobs "enraged by fake stories about Carr published by red-top papers", as Roy Greenslade puts it.[24][25][26][27][28][29] Channel 4 released a documentary describing this as a modern witchhunt against unknown women of similar appearance to Carr who have recently moved into an area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soham_murders_%282002%29#Persecution

The English tabloid press is a disgrace and it will treat anyone involved in the Joanna Yates story in the same way.