Full text loading...
-
The trials of the centuries: Murder and the media in South Africa
- Source: Journal of African Media Studies, Volume 8, Issue 3, Sep 2016, p. 361 - 378
-
- 01 Sep 2016
Abstract
Several important critical perspectives on media coverage of the Pistorius trial emerge in comparison to the most famous murder trial in South Africa in the first half of the twentieth century. In both cases, a well-known sports star shoots a young woman under circumstances that cause speculation and conjecture. The trials led to huge public interest and crowded courtrooms. While there are many points of comparison between the cases, in this article we do not discuss what the comparison reveals about the legal intricacies of the Pistorius case, or on the current state of the subjudice laws, or on the effect of the live broadcast (matters to which we plan to return), but rather on the different ways in which the legal protagonists and media framed the accused and other major figures in the two cases. We find that in the earlier trial the media, after the trial, played the role of criticizing the ways in which the jury and the judge had understood the events, while in the Pistorius trial the media overwhelmingly followed a framing narrative produced by the police and the prosecution, neglecting their watchdog function.