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TrialbyMedia, a documentaryseriesonNetflixthatpremiered
onMay11,doesitsbesttoexploretheimpactofcableTVon
theU.S.justicesystem.Duringhourlongsegments,theshow
examinessixtrialswhoseoutcomeswerearguablyshapedby
themediaandthecourtofpublicopinion.There’sthe 1985
caseof“SubwayVigilante”BernhardGoetz,whoshotfour
blackyouthshesayshethoughtweregoingtomughimon
theNewYorksubway,andmorerecently,the 2009 bribery
trialofformerIllinoisGovernorRodBlagojevich.
EachepisodeincludesclipsfromtheoriginalTVcov-
erage,ominousshotsofthecrimescenes,anda streamof
talkingheadswhoprovidecontextanda veneerofschol-
arlyanalysis.It is,inotherwords,notsodistantfromthe
true-crimeTVgenreit claimstocritique.
Theformatmakesforentertainingtelevision.(Notcoinci-
dentally,oneoftheshow’sexecutiveproducersisSteven
Brill,thefounderofCourtTV;othersincludelegalanalyst
JeffreyToobinandactorGeorgeClooney.)Associalcommen-
tary,though,theshowfalters.Whilefewcouldarguethat
cableTVhashada totallypositiveeffectonsociety,it turns ILLUSTRATIONBY731;GETTY(4)CRITIC BloombergPursuits May 18, 2020out that proving it’s an unconditional menace is difficult, too.
Legal outcomes, as viewers of the series will discover and
anyone with a long memory already knows, have little con-
nection to the court of public opinion. Before Blagojevich’s
first trial, his approval rating hovered at about 10%; the jury
was nevertheless hung on 23 of 24 federal charges.
Or take the episode exploring the 1999 police killing of
Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo. The 23-year-old had
come to New York with hopes of getting a computer science
degree. One winter night, as he fumbled for his wallet in the
vestibule of his own apartment building, four police officers
gunned him down in a hail of 41 bullets. Protesters, led by
the Reverend Al Sharpton and Diallo’s unbelievably poised
mother, rallied a national outcry; there were highly pub-
licized demonstrations, and newspapers across the coun-
try covered the trial in terms generally unfavorable to the
police. (“Officers in Bronx Fire 41 Shots, And an Unarmed
Man Is Killed,” read a typical New York Times headline.) And
yet,whilenoonedeniedtheofficershadshotDiallo,each
wasacquittedofmurder;thejuryruledit anhonestmistake.
Thereareseveralepisodes,however,inwhichopin-
ionandoutcomelineup.Themostentertainingcovers
RichardScrushy,theformerchairmanofHealthSouth(now
EncompassHealthCorp.),a physical-rehabilitationchain.A
federalgrandjuryindictedScrushyforfraudinlate2003.
Inthemonthsbetweenhisindictmentandhistrialinearly
2005,Scrushy,who’swhite,reinventedhimselfasanultra-
religiouspillarofsocietyandbegantofrequentblackevan-
gelicalchurches.Theseriesstronglysuggeststhemovewas
anefforttoswaymembersofthejury.“Theysaidit wasall
manipulative,topoisonthejurypool,”saysa blackpreacher
whosechurchScrushybegantoattend.“Isaid,‘Holdon.
Youdon’tunderstandsomething,we’retalkingaboutthe
wordofGodhere.’” In his first trial, Scrushy was acquit-
ted on all charges; in a second, separate trial, he was con-
victed for bribery.
But even in that case, Trial by Media leaves the impres-
sion the most important factor in Scrushy’s acquittal
wasn’t the media, but rather his homespun legal team
facing a buttoned-up group of government prosecutors.
“Alabama requires a down-home talent level,” explains one
of Scrushy’s grinning lawyers. “You gotta have a Southern
drawl, you have to go to church ... and if you don’t have
that, you don’t have a connection with the people sitting
on the jury.”
That’s the paradox of Trial by Media. It’s a true-crime TV
show that aims to unmask the social perils of ... true-crime
TV. The series recounts a 1984 rape trial in New Bedford,
Mass., that was televised. The victim’s name was stated
clearly on air, and her life spiraled into disaster as she was
vilified and hounded from her town. The country was so
scandalized that the U.S. Senate opened an investigation.
“When a trial becomes a showcase,” Jennifer Barr, a rape
crisis counselor, testified to a Senate subcommittee, “injus-
tice is done to all of the participants.” <BW>How televised criminal trials
have turned all of America into
the jury—and twisted justice
along the way. By James Tarmy328 Million
Angry Men