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This edited collection brings together scholars from criminology, law, media and communication studies, politics and linguistics to consider the different meanings and dimensions of trial by media. Trial by media remains an under-researched and under-conceptualised phenomenon. This book sheds new light on the complex and evolving interfaces between courts, media and justice. It features original analysis of high-profile cases of media trials including Nicola Bulley (UK), Lindy Chamberlain (Australia), Chris Dawson (Australia), Sanda Dia (Belgium), Dragan Vasiljkovic (Australia) and Roman Zadorov (Israel). Acknowledging the risks and benefits of heightened media scrutiny of the criminal justice system, the book challenges the notion that trial by media is invariably incompatible with the requirements of natural justice. It also foregrounds ways in which media trials routinely occur in the absence of a legal trial, arguing that there is a need to broaden and rethink the concept of trial by media. The book reflects on the enduring significance of legacy media for public perceptions of the law and the disruptive impact associated with digital media. Furthermore, the collection considers the implications of trial by media for the integrity of court proceedings and the protection of human rights. It offers an assessment of the potential demise of court reporting and its traditional bridging function between courts and public opinion.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Understanding trial by media and participatory justice in a networked world (Lieve Gies).- Part I: Legacy media and the court of public opinion.- Chapter 2. Websleuthing before the web? Pre-digital sleuthing in public writing about Australia's dingo baby case (Belinda Middleweek).- Chapter 3. Trial by film: Cases and causes in popular legal culture (Stefan Machura).- Chapter 4. Between a rock and a hard place: Israel's courtroom journalists in the digital age (Anat Peleg).- Part II: Social media and the perils of amateur sleuthing.- Chapter 5. The complexities of trial by social media: Examining the connection between self-exposure and harassment (Azi Lev-on).- Chapter 6 A gendered media spectacle for the digital era: Nicola Bulley, 'missing white woman syndrome' and middle-class, middle-aged, menopausal womanhood on trial (Tanya Horeck and Deborah Jermyn).- Chapter 7 Playing their own private detectives: Digital witnessing, forensic fandom and true crime narratives (Bethan Jones and Steff El Madawi).- Part III: Media campaigns for justice.- Chapter 8. "How we brought down a war criminal": Defamation trials as an alternative space for justice (Maria Rae).- Chapter 9. The paradox of true crime podcasting: Advocacy, prejudice, and the pursuit of justice (Katrina Clifford).- Chapter 10. When is trial by media not trial by media?: Seeking justice for Sanda Dia in post-Dutroux Belgium (Lieve Gies).- Part IV: Impacts of trial by media.- Chapter 11. The impact of media publicity on the presumption of innocence (Maria Stoyanova).- Chapter 12. The critical-forensic linguistic interface and the Spectrum of Trial by Media: Media-made sexual assault in the courtroom (Simon Statham).- Chapter 13. Publicity and legitimacy of public international law: The role of media in international legal proceedings (Paolo Vargiu).
About the author
Lieve Gies is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, UK. She specialises in media representations of the law and the legal system. Her research is highly interdisciplinary, straddling socio-legal studies, criminology, media and cultural studies. She published Transmedia Crime Stories: The Trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in the Globalised Media Sphere (Palgrave, 2016).
