Gross: danger of one-sidedness in coverage of crime; tends to treat presumption of innocence as formality
presumption of guilt in general public
normal case in crime coverage is the opposite of what was seen in Duke case--(local news)--tends to be slanted against black criminals
"crime script"--crime is violent, perpetrators are black; statistically, blacks are over-represented in media coverage as violent criminals; association between race and violence in media coverage
on lacrosse case: difference between early coverage and what happened when DNA test results released
distinguishing among media outlets; opinion from commentary
Early coverage problematic--news norms (defer to elite sources) caused problems in this case, more problematic in national coverage--very slanted
more mixed in taking longer view
Scott Bullock (Institute for Justice): incorporate media strategy into their litigation
public interest law; can lose in court, but win in court of public opinion (eminent domain cases a good example)
train their lawyers in how to deal with media--speak passionately, not in legalese
unlike criminal justice cases, need to put client up front--have client talk to media
Shapiro (ACLU): also--can win in court of law, but lose, in court of public opinion (ACLU has seen this)
difficulty of sharping message in media battle where perception too often trumps reality
many other prosecutors like Nifong; why not action against them? [again, no mention on who, precisely, these prosecutors are]
issue of how to frame discussions in a way that public will care about it
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3 comments:
statistically, blacks are over-represented in media coverage as violent criminals;
Could this be because blacks commit more crime than whites?
Nah, couldn't be, and anyone who looks at the crime stats is a racist.
This panel was a waste of time.
It provided a forum for anti-war and anti-everything blowhards to discuss their pet projects.
KC Reporting
...Many other prosecutors like Nifong; why not action against them? [again, no mention on who, precisely, these prosecutors are]
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That issue must have a solution but I don't know how to approach a database of cases that need to be tracked and prosecutors who need to be watched.
If we can track individual cases of TB and HIV in this country we should be able to track errant prosecutors and the wreckage they leave in their wake.
Especially clusters of errant prosecutors and the consequences of their little reign of terror.
I wonder if Reade is thinking about such a tracking system in the future?
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GP
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