This book examines trial by media from the perspective of critical-forensic linguistics. A triadic framework of trial by media is established to show the role of media in courtrooms based on the analysis of the interaction between conceptualizations of crime in media and those constructed by lay jurors and legal professionals.
The book comprises six chapters. Chapter 1, the introduction, presents the theoretical basis of the book, including the legal environments of the study, the subjective nature and elements of media reportage, the ideologically loaded function of language and discourse, and the analysis model integrating critical discourse analysis (CDA) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL).
Focus is shifted to direct and enhanced trial by media in chapter 2. Direct trial by media refers to the acceptance of ideologically loaded representations of crime in media by potential jurors and their application to cases in court. Enhanced trial by media refers to the strengthening of jurors’ reliance on pretrial notions of crime, as linguistic and discursive isolators (detaching lay jurors from court proceedings) throughout the trial process and jurors’ memory organization packets (containing scripts of crime events) prompt them to resort to media interpretations of crime.
Chapter 3 substantiates direct and enhanced trial by media through an analysis of the construction and propagation of media discourses of specific crimes. The theory of dynamic memory is adopted to show the penetration of media discourses into jurors’ conceptions of crimes. The analysis reveals a link between media portrayals of crimes and the preconceived notions of jurors who are largely resistant to being further informed by the proceedings in court.
Reinforced trial by media is addressed in chapter 4, which refers to the reinforcement of jurors’ reliance on pretrial notions of crime through advocates’ deployment of media-made scripts of crime. Frame theory and the theory of an idealized cognitive model are used to analyse the cognitive construction of sexual assault victims in both media and trial discourses. Thus, trial by media is shown to be reinforced by advocates’ recourse to media discourse in the courtroom, which in turn strengthens the ideologies underlying media discourse.
In chapter 5, reinforced trial by media is further explored in the closing argument of a manslaughter case. A detailed analysis of the appraisal resources based on the appraisal framework of SFL shows the correlation between patterns of judgement in the media and those constructed by lawyers in the courtroom, and the interconnectedness of lawyers’ tactics with those of newspaper professionals, which reveals the reinforcing role of media discourse and media ideology in courtroom trials.
The conclusion of the study is drawn in chapter 6. It highlights the pervasiveness and the impact of trial by media as a systematic and routine process, emphasizes the misrepresentation of the status of media discourse in the courtroom, re-examines the issue of the secrecy of jury deliberation, and calls for reconceiving the role of the jury in common law jurisdictions.
The book presents a useful framework for the analysis of the interaction between media and law discourses, and offers a valuable resource for professionals and researchers in law and discourse studies.
