Social Media and Trials

Social Media and High-Profile Trials

Stephanie Olsen

celebrity defendant

famous lawyers

race and gender aspects

live coverage of the courtroom

Perfect Mix

Sex

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

MenWomen

None regularly read a newspaper, but eight

regularly watch tabloid TV shows

OJ Simpson Jury

Women Defenders and Public Opinion

Women are a rarity

Persecuted in the media more harshly then men

Usually portrayed as the Virgin or the Whore

Mothers are persecuted harshly

First Social Media Post

“Daughter who stole money, lots of money

and doesn’t her mother now speak to the baby that her mother raised”

Live Twitter stream gave outsiders access to the trial

@NinthCircuitFL

Guilty Before Proven Innocent

2007- Social Media exploded in popularity

Italian press painted a negative image

Tweets from the Courtroom

Is Social Media a Problem?

• Make Jury Selection Difficult

• Defendants have to appeal to two courts

• No Direct Link to Verdicts

Sources(2011) Amanda Knox Free: Twitter reactions to Appeals Verdict. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/amanda-knox-verdict-twitter-reactions_n_992932.html#s386062&title=Julianne_Grillo.  Brown, W. J., Duane, J. J., Fraser, B. P. (1997). Media coverage and public opinion of the O.J. Simpson Trial: Implications for the criminal justice system. Communication Law and Policy. Cloud, J. (2011). How the Casey Anthony Murder Case Became the Social-Media Trial of the Century. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077969,00.html. CNN Wire Staff. (2011). Timeline: Amanda Knox Trial. CNN. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/world/europe/italy-amanda-knox-timeline/index.html.  Fantz, A. (2011). No End to Knox as a Pop Culture Obsession. CNN World. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-03/world/world_europe_knox-obsession-continues_1_foxy-knoxy-amanda-knox-meredith-kercher?_s=PM:EUROPE. Fox, R. L., Sickel, R. W., & Steiger, T. L. (2007). Tabloid justice: criminal justice in an age of media frenzy (2. ed.). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Gabriel, R. (2011). American Justice or American Idol? Two Trial and Two Verdicts in the Casey Anthony Case. Retrieved from http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/07/american-justice-or-american-idol-two-trials-and-two-verdicts-in-the-casey-anthony-case/. Hughes, S.A. (2011). Casey Anthony and the Media Coverage of her Appearance. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/casey-anthony-and-the-media-coverage-of-her-appearance/2011/06/02/AGXsTJMH_blog.html.  Hull, S. (2011). Amanda Knox Verdict: How Facebook and YouTube Created Foxy Knoxy. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/09/30/amanda-knox-verdict-how-f_n_988847.html. Jewkes, Y. (2011). Media and Crime. London: SAGE. 

Jewkes, Y. (Ed.) (2009). Crime and Media. Los Angeles: SAGE.  Mitchell, A., Purcell, K., Rainie, L. & Rosenstiel, T. (2011). Part 5: The role of the Internet. PewInternet. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Local-news/Part-5.aspx?view=all. (2011, July 5). Social Media’s Influence on the Casey Anthony Trial. Retrieved from http://blog.thenetimpact.com/2011/07/social-media%E2%80%99s-influence-on-the-casey-anthony-trial/. Thielking, M. (2011). Five Trials by Media. http://northbynorthwestern.com/story/trial-by-media/ Vreeland, E. (2011). LIVE: Amanda Knox Verdict- Reports Live from the Courtroom via Twitter. Hudson Horizons. Retrieved from http://blog.hudsonhorizons.com/Article/Amanda-Knox-Verdict.html.

Sources Continued…

Photos:

Slide 3: http://movietechnology1.blogspot.com/p/90s-present.htmlhttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7399109nhttp://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/gallery/casey-anthony-mug-shot/http://blog.socialmaximizer.com/

Slide 4: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19940627,00.html

Slide 5: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/simpson/jurypage.html

Slide 6: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42955398/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/sniff-tests-allowed-trial-mom-accused-murdering-daughter-judge-rules/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/an-innocent-abroad/

Slide 7: jessicaspraggins.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/cindy-anthonys-myspace-post-july-3-2008/

Slide 8: https://twitter.com/#!/ninthcircuitfl

Slide 9: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20533992,00.html

Slide 10: https://twitter.com/#!/NickSquires1http://www.starpulse.com/news/SheKnows_Entertainment/2011/10/04/celebrities_give_mixed_reactions_to_am