Remember this story? Remember the media feeding frenzy?

These people were tried in the court of public opinion and found guilty.


JonBenet Ramsey

How sad.

Honestly, I can remember thinking that there was a cover up by the family.  I thought maybe they were protecting the son.  At least they have finally been exhonerated (sp?)

Lots of peeps did that T. It wasn't until I sat on my first jury (a murder trial) that I became aware of the value of evidence. This story was still making it's rounds in the media at the time and what caught my eye is that they never brought evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. The spin that the media put on it would lead the viewer to believe otherwise, though.

The case never went to trial either, which was another point that was overlooked by the sharks in the media. For instance, take this statement from the article:

"No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion, especially when public officials have not had sufficient evidence to initiate a trial in a court of law."


Take the recent case of alleged sexual abuse involving the Texas polygamist sect. There was a rush to judgement with no evidence to support the charges against most of those people, but yet they were pronounced guilty in the court of public opinion.

It's sad and frightening where this could lead. Our society is addicted to tabloid jounalism. Tabloid journalism is to the brain, what junk candy and fast food is to the body.

Poison.

I remember the media pretty much had everyone convinced that the parents were guilty.

Sadly, I was one of them.

I think the media had most everyone convinced.  They let you hear what they want you to hear, manipulate words and such to appear as though there is "evidence" to support their claim.  I can only imagine the hell that family has been through.   It would be horrific enough to lose a child, but then to be punished everyday as though you did it...  How they have held it together is beyond me.

Hey T, Mrs. Ramsey died.... in 2003 I believe. She went to her grave with this travesty hanging over her.

I remember another case involving the murder of several University of Florida students back in the late 80's. We were living in Jacksonville and this was a pretty big story down there. They arrested a guy (I can't remember his name, but that doesn't matter. He's just a footnote in the drive-by media slander machine) that they suspected of being involved and then went on to portray him as deranged, showing the most un-flattering pictures of him. The local news ran with it night and day. But a funny thing happened on the way to the lynching.

They had no evidence.

They finally caught the guy who really did it and nary a retraction or apology was ever uttered. It was about this time that I really stopped watching TV news. The JonBenet case was the clincher. The POS was finally put to death in 2006, almost 12 years after the brutal murders of those sorority girls.

Remember the 1996 Olympic bomb plot? Richard Jewell should have been treated like a hero, but instead he was just the latest victim of the drive-by media. (See here and see vindication). Dood discovered the bombs and then became a suspect. He was harassed and vilified. Earned the nickname Una-Bubba and so on. He didn't do it, but it was too late.

The drive-by media had struck and moved on to the next target.

Peeps, y'all are adults and don't need me to tell you how to run your lives, but until the case is brought to trial and then only if you are on the jury and see the evidence and hear the testimony of all sides, it is sheer folly to believe anything you hear on TV from all of these so-called legal experts.

All of the networks are guilty. And they don't care.

Think about the Haditha Marines? Jack Murtha makes a foolish and stupid comment for political reasons and the media runs with it because it's a good anti-war, anti-Bush story.

All but one have been vindicated, but where do they go to get their reputations back? A grateful country we do seem not to be.

Remember the Duke Lacrosse debacle of a few years ago?  Media had them guilty when, eventually pretty apparently, they weren't?


And it's not just crime cases the MSM does this with.  


Couple of old jokes to illustrate:


HEADLINE:                WORLD TO END AT 10 PM; Women and Minorities hit hardest






Guy is walking along a Georgia street and sees a dog attacking small boy.  He runs over and kills the dog before the dog kills the boy.  Just then, a newspaper reporter jumps out of a passing car and says "Oh wow...let me get your picture....I'm writing a story about your heroic deed......LOCAL HERO SAVES BOY'S LIFE

The guy says "I'm not from this town"

"OH OK" says the reporter, "GEORGIA MAN PREVENTS MAULING OF YOUTH"

The guy says "I'm not from Georgia, I'm here on vacation from Michigan"

"OH OK" says the reporter.


The next day the man picks up the paper and reads his story under this headline "YANKEE CARPETBAGGER KILLS FAMILY PET".

i've been guilty of a rush to judgement a time or two .
includes once when i was hearing evidence as a potential juror  in a ***/murder case . while watching the guy i convinced myself he was guilty . i did not sit on the trial  .

the media always seems to display guilty till proven innocent , i want to say presumption of innocence was lost in the media in the 90's ,maybe with the oj trial , can't really remember when the trend started .

he who controls the present controls the past . he who controls the past controls the future .
george orwell - 1984