Sunday, November 20, 2005

Indian media coverage of court cases...

The Indian media rarely covers the trial proceedings of any case. In contrast, the NYT would spend pages of space to discuss court proceedings and to 'predict' the judgments. Why?
1. The media is too wary to step on the judiciary's toes and (unreasonably) fears being held contempt of court.
2. The media managers believe the readers/viewers don't care about the trial.
3. Excessive delay in our courts end kills public interest.

Are there any other reasons?

One fallout of this lack of media interest is that judges get quoted in the media only if they make dramatic statements like "Throw the governor out of his house!". I hope judges dont end up making such statements just for the sake of getting the media to be interested in the proceedings.

1 Value-adds:

Blogger Hermit Chords said...

Perhaps it's also because there's no jury system in India- it's all between the Judge and Prosecution and Defence. So while a story might have news/entertainment value, there's no feeling in the public of being involved. In the U.S, a reader might at some point of time in his life, if he's a good boy throughout, be on a jury. Hence a greater sense of responsibility as a citizen in the process of jurisdiction. Just a theory: I don't know if it actually works this way in the U.S.

December 03, 2005 12:45 PM  

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