The court of public opinion
Thursday, April 12th, 2007Read The court of public opinion if you want. This is a follow-up to that post.
I’ve been thinking lately about how often the media shamelessly convicts people in the court of public opinion because it’s good for news. That’s a lie. They do it because it’s good for business.
Chris Knudsen touched upon it himself just today A note on society, and that post actually reminded me of some examples that show how people get convicted for crimes in the public’s eye but not in the courts or by actual juries.
Example One: Geek Squad/BestBuy sued for tech videoing girl in the shower
Thoughts: First off, Consumerist needs to get it’s headline straight. The tech allegedly did the videoing, not the company. I think we all know why the girl (who you often see smirking in the video) is suing a deep-pocketed company instead of some perv with a fake badge and a white shirt and black tie. Is he guilty? That’s exactly what I don’t want to decide in this post.
Court of public opinion?
Watch the news story, the journalist says “This news conference has just ended, so we haven’t had time to contact either BestBuy or the Geek Squad.” That’s because the evidence seems to say guilty and the attorney didn’t want BestBuy to comment before hand. She knew the media would jump all over it and wouldn’t miss the press conference.
More examples will come soon. p.s., I actually have a new website being developed right now that will address these very issues in the media and with PR people. Stay tuned.