Guardian on trial by media

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

The Shame Game
by Zoe Williams

[excerpt]

"This is way beyond the debate about the naming before
fair trial. Del Naja was named before they even found
enough evidence to get to trial (they didn't); Kelly
was named before he was even charged (he wasn't);
Townshend was not only named before trial (there was
none), he's been put on a sex-offender register
without a conviction. We might just as well be handing
out criminal records to people who have criminalesque
haircuts. 

"It crossed my mind at the time that maybe this was a
money-saving device by the police, on the orders of
some higher authority - if people could be ruined by
newspapers alone, it would stand as a warning to all
other potential offenders, without the pesky prison
sentence that costs the taxpayer such a packet. In
fact, this conspiracy theory is undermined by the
curious ubiquity of the Newspapers-First-Law-Second
method. From weathergirls, through fantasists, to the
police, everyone's using it. In essence, it seeks to
replace the legal system with the more nebulous device
of public shaming."

Full article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,959435,00.html


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com