Lazy, Stupid Coverage of the Exonerated

The stories of men exonerated by DNA results, released from prison or even death row, could be very interesting stories.

There certainly are a lot of them these days.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States sure knows how to screw up a good true crime tale.

Photo: Exonerated from Florida's Death Row: Rudolph Holton

If you've seen or heard the stories of these men on Larry King, on NPR, or in your local paper, you may have noticed that they all take on the same flavorlessness after a while.

When I hear the story of someone who's been exonerated by science, I want to know why. What was the evidence that put him behind bars? Was it a case of mistaken identity? Prosecutorial misconduct? Recanted evidence? What? Who screwed up this one? When is he going to be arrested and disbarred!?

Some reporters manage to cover exonerations without ever bothering to find out. They sometimes mention prosecutorial misconduct, but they don't often say a name.

After all, why would they spend the time studying the case, talking to the lawyers, and reading transcripts, when they can just type up a cute little 8" blurb about a former convict's first trip to a shopping mall in 20 years?

I'm not the only one who has noticed. David Niven of Florida Atlantic University wrote a fascinating article for the Journal of Criminal Justice & Popular Culture. It's Southern Newspaper Coverage of Exonerations from Death Row and it's a corker. He studied the content of newspaper articles about exonerations and measured their shallowness and "eerie regularity."

Says Niven: "Those who were executed received more than three times as much coverage as exonerated people on death row, which is akin to giving three times as much coverage to the planes that land safely compared to the ones that crash."

Seems to me that both sets of stories are worth serious study. Of course, that requires serious journalists.

Once in a while a real journalist who knows what he's doing takes on one of these stories. Recently Bill Moyers of PBS interviewed an exonerated man named Jerry Miller - it was easily one of the most fascinating interviews I've seen in years.

It can be done.

Comments

[lewweinstein]

You have written an excellent article highlighting a largely hidden problem which poisons the American criminal justice system. I share your concern and outrage that prosecutors who abuse their power (and there are many who do) are rarely exposed and even less frequently punished.

You might be interested in my just published novel, “A Good Conviction,” which features a wrongful conviction in a high profile Central Park murder, brought about by a prosecutor who knew the defendant was actually innocent and hid the exculpatory evidence that would have led to a not guilty verdict.

Several prosecutors and appeals attorneys helped me with the legal aspects of a Brady appeal in New York State, and all of them agreed that what I portrayed was both realistic and all too possible.

Perhaps you know Steve Cohen, the federal prosecutor who had much to do with the overthrow of convictions in the Palladium case in NYC. Steve was an enthusiastic reader of “A Good Conviction,” and he has been helping me promote the book …

… including a back cover blurb from Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and first sex crimes prosecutor in the U.S., who wrote …

“A Good Conviction is a well written, well paced, and fascinating tale of prosecutorial abuse in the Manhattan DA's office. Makes one wonder how many other times something like this has occurred and just how high the abuse is actually sanctioned.”

Dan Slepian, who produced several critically important TV shows about the Palladium case, has written ...

“Having spent countless hours working with detectives, courts, attorneys, and wrongly convicted inmates I was most impressed with how well researched and accurate your narrative was. You really nailed it. In addition, it was a great read.”

I also refer in “A Good Conviction” to the brilliant series done some time ago by the Chicago Tribune, Trial and Error, How Prosecutors Sacrifice Justice to Win, and Maurice Possley, one of the authors, is reading my book and has promised a comment.

You can find A Good Conviction at ...

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Conviction-Lewis-M-Weinstein/dp/1595941622/ref=sr_1_1/103-7341421-1865416?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180587686&sr=8-1

or at my blog …

http://www.agoodconviction.wordpress.com

I'd like to hear from you about whether you think “A Good Conviction” has value in further publicizing the problem of bad prosecutors and the damage they too often do to innocent defendants.

LEW WEINSTEIN

[A Voice of Sanity]

It's not just the exonerated of course. How many breathless stories of now-separated conjoined twins must we see? Cats stuck up trees? If you watch old TV or even filmed news shows you are struck by the sameness of the comments (often deftly parodied on "The Simpsons") and the sameness of the shows. Yet really has anything changed? The voices may not be as 'plummy' but the final comment is too often predictable whatever the story. The laziness of the US media is all too obvious, and their penchant for news handouts all too plain to see.

Too many of them think they are Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward. They fail to realize that Bernstein and Woodward aren't Bernstein and Woodward - they too have had many failures. Bob Woodward wrote two books praising George W. Bush before he saw the light and wrote a third, presumably more accurate account. I'm not convinced that he has fully grasped the size of the failures yet.

CBS thought Katie Couric would bring new, younger viewers to the night time news. They'd have done much better with Lewis Black ("Back in Black" -- The Daily Show). At least he has original thoughts on the news from a unique viewpoint and is not "Little Miss Echo"!