Trail by Media in Developing Countries with Special Reference to India

The modern times have seen a major breakthrough as far as the media’s role and reach is concerned. There was a time not so long ago when media was limited to newspapers and people would wait 24 hours to get an idea of what was happening around them. The last decade- and- half has seen the rise of multi- media, with TV and Internet emerging as big players. News now is like instant coffee, 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days a year. You don’t like the coffee, change the flavor - you want news of a different kind, switch your TV channel or the webpage. In this scenario, and faced with huge threat from TV and Internet, newspapers have also changed face: they are pacier, more frivolous and more in- your- face than ever before. Trial by Media is a phrase which was coined in the late 20th and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person's reputation, by creating a widespread perception of guilt regardless of any verdict in a court of law. One of the first celebrities in the 20th century to be arguably tried by media was Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle who was acquitted by the courts but nevertheless lost his career and reputation due to the media coverage. In India, trial by media has assumed significant proportions. It has had both positive and negative results. However, many would think that the overall impact is for the betterment of the society. Some famous criminal cases that would have gone unpunished but for the intervention of media are Priyadarshani Mattoo case, Jesica Lal case, Nitish Katara murder case