Presumed guilty until proven innocent?

The American media is a grand old institution. For most part, they do a great job covering various sensational cases. But one Achilles heel that I have noticed time and again, is the propensity of the media to presume guilt even before some cases go to trial. This has been a particularly virulent form of aggression and it does great harm to the defendant.


In the past few weeks, two cases come to mind: the Rod Blagojevich case of the Illinois governor who is accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's recently vacated senate seat to the highest bidder. The press has gone bonkers about this case and every single news anchor I've watched so far, has spoken as if Blago is guilty. Truth be told, there are accusations against him, but nothing has been proven so far, because the investigation is still going on.


In the more serious case of Casey Anthony, who has been accused of killing her 2 year old child, the press has tried and passed a verdict on her. Nancy Grace on CNN has been especially unrelenting in accusing Casey of murdering her child.

Now, this may, in fact, turn out to be the case, but that is not the issue I am talking about. I am speaking about the fact that Casey will not be provided a fair trial under the law because Nancy has sensationalized the case so much. Not only that, she has spent many hours accusing Casey of being guilty. There are other people out there, some are "psychologists" who, purportedly, profiled Casey Anthony as a "sociopath" based on scant 3rd hand evidence.

Thanks to Nancy's innuendo's, outright accusations and sarcastic remarks, and others like her, who have heard the evidence (3rd or 4th hand), deliberated, tried and indicted Casey, she has lost the basic human right of presumed innocence until guilt is proven in court with no shred of doubt.

While I am all for the media making hay while the sun shines, it must not be at the expense of other human beings. Everyone deserves a fair shake at justice and in these two cases (in the recent past) justice is not being served. Let the police and the court systems do their job. The media, in these cases, seem to have erupted like vultures after a carcass.

Please don't misunderstand me - I don't imply either guilt or innocence in these two cases. I would like to withhold any private opinion - simply because it is not my place to judge until the courts have tried and come to a verdict. I implore everyone else to withhold judgment until then too.

I would urge the media and the people to BE FAIR and BE NON-JUDGEMENTAL - If not for the sake of the defendants, at least for THEMSELVES!