Trial by media?

“Can colonel get a fair trial?” asks the Law Times. Intense media coverage
of the arrest of Russell Williams – including reports of a confession that may
or may not have been leaked by police – has threatened
the possibility of a fair jury trial, according to a prominent defence
lawyer. At the very least, the trial
is likely to move.

Retired Major General Lewis MacKenzie has weighed in, slamming the media.
What does the press corp think? When an Ottawa Citizen op-ed accused
journalists of trial
by media, it raised some reaction
in J-Source’s Town Hall – especially because the author was a journalism
professor.

The debate over freedom of the press versus
presumption of innocence certainly isn’t new in Canada’s newsrooms and
classrooms. A 2002 Ryerson Review of Journalism article, “Trial by Journalist,”
examines the issue through the lens of Christie Blatchford’s work.