In twelve pages this paper examines news cameras documenting high profile criminal cases such as CourtTV's presence in the trials of O.J. Simpson and Rabbi Fred Neulander. Eight sources are cited in the bibliography.
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brought live from the front lines to American living rooms. And while it is not surprising that people are able to witness the justice system live, one wonders what it
is doing to that system and how far it will go. Today, the press feels it should have access to everything. There has even been talk about televising jury deliberations.
Certainly, cameras would affect the way in which verdicts are derived and while many think that the camera does not have an effect now, jurors are commodities. The new interest
in courtroom drama has rendered the juror a candidate for his or her fifteen minutes of fame. High profile jurors are often sought for interviews and newsmagazine shows and some
have written books about their experiences. Some cases do become very well known and perhaps the most famous trial to be televised was the O.J. Simpson case. It was of
course an interesting mystery and still is. While most people in the country believe he is guilty, the jury turned in a Not Guilty verdict. To some extent, this provides
proof of the power of the jury system. The jurors were not influenced by media or public opinion. Of course, that may be true of this case, but the danger
of an overzealous media is that it turns the public into heroes. Perhaps not wanting to be embarrassed, or seen as weak, jurors may go for guilty verdicts even if
the evidence does not indicate such. In difficult cases, there is an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence but perhaps not enough to alleviate a reasonable doubt. However, the public who
is not given the charge does not really evaluate the material on that basis, but rather goes with gut feeling, pieces of evidentiary material and the skill of the attorneys.