When it comes to the press having their freedoms in writing and reporting news as well as people’s right to their own privacy, there is a line that should not be crossed in the process. For example, there have been many cases where people have been wrongly accused of crimes such as murders or even having private parts of their lives exposed. Due to this exposure, the public can see and create their opinions about them whether the information is truthful or not. Events like these can and have ruined the lives of innocent people. They cannot go back to their normal lives simply because the media has already brought too much attention to it. Therefore, it is extremely important that there are certain boundaries that should not be crossed. Jack McCullough is a perfect example of someone who was wrongly accused of a murder that he did not commit; eventually, …show more content…
However, in April of 2017 he was finally ruled to be innocent which put the case back into the unsolved case files. It was proved that there was no way he could have committed the crime because he was 40 miles away at the time (O’Neill). McCullough’s lawyer said, “He was innocent. Everybody knew he was innocent and yet they pursued the investigation.” According to McCullough’s lawyer, he is not the only person who has been wrongfully convicted in Illinois; it has been known for multiple wrongful convictions of many innocent people. He was the 786th convicted killer who was released and the 122nd in Illinois (O’Neill). For 6 years, people saw McCullough as a monster because of the false conclusions made on the case. This restricted him from living a normal life because people believed he did a such horrible thing. However, not only does this affect the person being accused but as well as the families and other loved ones who must be informed that the case was
The muder of Meredith Kercher was covered very differently from beginning to end. Media bias was present on both sides of guilty and not guilty. The story was hard to keep straight as information was either left out or presented falsely. News articles presented soon after a story, is useful for awareness of the issue; however, exact details are generally not presented fairly or true fully.
Once a long sixteen years were over for McCormick, the case reopened, McCormick was granted a new trial, the DNA testing was proved false, and a criminal court jury found McCormick not guilty of all charges for the murder of Nichols. McCormick, who was fifty-five years old at the time of the new trial, was now a free man. After the trial, McCormick stated, “I hope they get the right person and convict them. I had nothing to do with it.”
In 1788, the ratification of the United States Constitution sought to establish the fundamental aspects of the nation’s government, laws, and protections of its citizens’ unalienable rights. Robert G. McCloskey’s The American Supreme Court (2016) explains that, during this period, the prospects of the Supreme Court were essentially unknown. As time progressed, however, the Court began strengthening its legitimacy with its decisions in major landmark court cases which, in turn, established its crucial role in shaping the judicial interests and values of the nation. As such, McCloskey (2016) traces the country’s judicial history by highlighting the Court’s great transitional periods regarding state rights, nation rights, property rights, and slavery. By the start of the 20th century, however, discrepancies began to emerge with the rise of
On February 26, 2012, an apparently innocent teenager was shot as he walked home through his neighborhood late at night. The Trayvon Martin killing and trial has recently been one of the primary topics covered by the media in America. The response to the news coverage of the case has been staggering. Students have organized hoodie marches and created Facebook groups to protest the unjustified murder of the young man. However, is the American public as well informed as it pretends to be? Americans have an unsettling susceptibility to manipulation from the media. In 1991, a similar event occurred in the case of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, where Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas, had his personal affairs put on display for
The 2006 Duke Lacrosse Case brought to light many of the issues and divisions currently plaguing our media sphere. This terrible act of injustice, which blamed three innocent Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, for the rape of an African-American stripper, garnered extensive media attention that gripped America for almost an entire year (Wasserman, 3). Today, many scrutinze the media’s methods of covering the case, and deem that certain codes of ethics were not adhered to. Rather than remaining neutral, newspapers and TV outlets allowed themselves to “be used” by Mike Nifong, the former District Attorney for Durham and prosecutor of the case, by reporting
The American journalist and politician Clare Boothe Luce spoke out to a group of journalists to make her statement on the press. The time Luce’s speech was presented, it was 1960; a much different time from how press runs today. Back in the sixties, press was presented in the form of newspapers or by word of mouth, whereas today press appears on a computer screen. In Luce’s speech she states, “It is- to use the big word- the pursuit of and the effort to state the truth.” (L.39). This statement concludes that the author views the whole point of the press to tell the truth. Whether the topic is on the food industry or on economics, press brings information to the people in an honest fashion. Back in this time Clare used many rhetorical
Often, the media is very quick to jump on a story as they want to be the “very first” to bring the news story since they compete with other news outlets. Add the issues of law enforcement sources who leak information to news sources, and you have the potential of someone being found guilty of public opinion. As was seen in the case of Richard Jewell, a man who acted heroically was scrutinized and ridiculed by the media all because law enforcement wanted to question Jewell further. Even though Richard Jewell was questioned and his rights were read to him, he was at no time arrested or detained, and it seems there never existed any probable cause for law enforcement to do so. However, the media painted Jewell as the bomber, called him a “fat,
Society relies so vastly on media as a source of information, that in some cases there can be discrepancy on what is deemed as appropriate or not appropriate when covering a story. This is the case for the story of Russell Williams who is charged with two accounts of murder, sexual assault and countless occurrences of breaking and entering. Williams’ case has been highly covered by the media and a great magnitude of disturbing details as well as photos has been provided while documenting events. The amount of information provided to the public has
Stories sometimes are true and sometimes they are false but it is up to the public to believe in what is right and what is wrong. In this day and age, where information is available at the touch of a mouse, it’s not surprising that the media is a particularly dominant and powerful
This paper goes over the effects the media had on the O.J. Simpson case and how the media interfered. The O.J. Simpson murder case is touted as the most televised criminal trial in history and from the second the murders were discovered there was a media frenzy. On the night of June 12, 1994 the bodies of Nicole Brown and her waiter Ronald Goldman were found outside of Nicole’s condo both stabbed to death. The suspect, former athlete, icon, and actor Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson was the main suspect of the crime. On June 16th, 1994 the LAPD pressed murder charges against him and placed a warrant for his arrest
The media can be an effective tool for exposing injustices in the application of criminal law, however it can also be used to create unfair bias against the alleged offender therefore, causing an imbalance between the rights of the accused and society. The media attempted to vilify Loveridge to create prejudice
In journalism, an ethical dilemma is a complex issue or situation that often involves an emotional and psychological conflict between moral obligations and duties, in which to obey one would transgress the other. Within the media there are many stories that can be deemed an ethical dilemma; some more so than others. One of the most recent and prominent ethical dilemmas was the worldwide coverage surrounding the shooting of two American WBDJ journalists, Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Despite the fact that the shooter filmed the ordeal clearly showing the two slain journalists being shot, news outlets had picked it up and ran with the story, which ultimately went viral in minutes. This essay will analyse and thoroughly examine the reporting
To fully understand we much focus on these three aspects of the issue. Above all, it is the media's job to publish what is true. It is its job to give the audience news and that of truthful news. The most serious concern with the media is that what they reveal to the audience must be true because as a society we are greatly influenced by what we read, hear, and see through the press. This is why libel is more serious than privacy issues. Publishing false or inaccurate information directly is the biggest, and most devastating thing a journalist or media can do. That is the
In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story
Working within the media industry, especially as a journalist. It can sometimes be difficult and challenging as you are more than often finding yourself having to raid people’s personal lives to get a story. However, 'Is it in the public interest? ' that is the one question any journalist must ask themselves if they are to publish a story that may contain an individual’s private information.