Trial By Media

  • 06 Jun - 12 Jun, 2020
  • Mag The Weekly
  • TV TIME

Trial By Media is a docuseries that takes a look at various famous cases over the past 40 years that have been greatly affected by the media circuses that were built around them. What the series is out to show is how the media can not only influence how a case is perceived, but media may be the engine that generates the events in the case to begin with. The episodes in the series, helmed by various directors, examines cases like the Bernard Goetz case in 1980’s New York, the “Big Dan’s” case that inspired the film The Accused, the Amadou Diallo case, and the Richard Scrushy case. The first episode examines the famous Jenny Jones murder and how the crazy daytime talk show wars of the 1990s may have had a hand in the case, as well as the circus that was built around both the criminal and civil trials it generated. As with most docuseries of this type, your enjoyment of Trial By Media will vary from episode to episode, but will also vary with how much you know and remember about a particular episode’s case. It is clearly a mixed bag, so your mileage will vary depending on where your interests lie. The series really works, but some cases are simply more interesting than others. Yes, the media covered all of these cases, some better than others, but there’s a little connective tissue. What this series really could’ve used is a host to tie the episodes together and summarise how the media affected these cases. The series boasts George Clooney and lawyer Jeffrey Toobin (The People vs. O.J. Simpson) among its team of executive producers, and kudos to Clooney for his commitment to journalism, but it would’ve been great to see him in front of the camera at the beginning and end of each episode to sum things up.

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