Let me say that I find it difficult not to agree in principle with Clare Small-Warner’s letter (DAILY NATION, November 23), in which she complains that the court appearances of an accused person are translated into “star-like attention” by the over-enthusiastic support of friends and family.
This, she says, sends the wrong message to the wider community and all those with “impressionable minds”. She wishes to know what the “relevant authorities” can do about it.
It is important to note that the letter is headlined Take Spotlight Away From Accused – and so it should be. You see, what underpins Small-Warner’s complaint is the media attention given to any accused person when he makes a court appearance. Arguably, this is prejudicial to the accused at a time of great trauma to him and those who care for him. It gives quite unnecessary prominence to an inevitable event, the appearance, when nothing has in fact been proved against him, and engineers in the public perception precipitate conclusions about his guilt. This runs counter to the constitutionally protected “presumption of innocence”.
Small-Warner really cannot blame the accused’s family and friends if they register support. They would be an odd lot if they didn’t. But what we can say is that it is indeed time for the media, which includes this newspaper, to stop quite unnecessarily zealous court reporting by the use of graphic images to titillate the public. Essentially it is that of which Small-Warner makes complaint, and with justification, since not least it encourages the conduct of the accused’s well-wishers which so concerns her.
– Reverend Clifford Hall
