Trial by Media: Role and Impact on the Administration of Justice

Abstract

Trial by media is a dynamic process in which the parties are exposed to public opinion and condemned without being heard. The media, a scapegoat under the guise of press freedom, after hindering justice, defaming one or more individuals, destroying numerous people's reputations, infringing on the right to privacy, and disrupting the fair trial process. Hence, media gains formal prerogative rights to render decisions in cases and convey them to the public as true. The media is the foundation of the news industry, thus everything the public learns about an incident is first scrutinized via its lens and then reported on by the media, which portrays its likelihood as nothing more than trials. This research seeks to explore the role of media trials in judicial proceedings and analyze how they impact in the administration of justice. This was made possible through the use of qualitative research, specifically documentary analysis using secondary data acquired from the study's literature. Findings show that media trials interfere with the judicial process and have a negative impact on the administration of justice and the rights of the accused.