The Tribune editorial advocating cameras in the courtroom is a flabby rehash of old arguments that make even less sense today, in light of geek-show “reality” programming and the increase in televised “news-lite.”
The argument that televising the workings of other branches of government is persuasive precedent for televising trials is specious at best. The difference between the courts and other branches of government is that the courtroom process–especially at the trial level–is supposed to be a search for the truth, while the truth usually runs a distant second to partisan political rhetoric in State of the Union addresses and the droning of many members of Congress.
The editorial quotes former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that televising trials lets people “make their own judgment about [a] case.” As a former attorney (before he became a pandering politician), he should know that a trial is not a poll or a survey, and that the only important judgment is the jury’s.
Unlike television viewers, jurors see and hear firsthand all of the evidence–they don’t miss any by ducking out to make a sandwich or take a phone call–and arrive at their judgment only after going through an often exhausting deliberative process in the jury room.
Comparing a television viewer’s opinion with the verdict of actual jurors demeans the duty and effort of those jurors.
Make no mistake about it: The television industry doesn’t care about informing the public.
It’s in the entertainment business, and its executives want to televise trials because they are just another form of reality programming–but without all the production costs of writers, sets and compensation for the “actors.” That’s why you’ll never see two small businesses litigating a contract dispute about defective widgets when a juicy O.J. Simpson or William Kennedy Smith trial is available.
Trials are the serious business of administering justice, not cheap entertainment for the masses. The judicial system has, for the most part, served this nation well for more than 200 years. Citizens who care about a particular case can go to the courtroom and watch the proceedings, or buy a newspaper and read about them.
The system ain’t broke, and it sure doesn’t need television to fix it.
