Media circus, maybe

April 21, 2008 By

poster b1While papal coverage dominated religion news last week, the saga involving the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints continued. I’m still digging through all the recent updates and analyses, but I wonder what readers think of this headline:

Polygamist sect hearing in Texas descends into farce

Here’s how the story, by the Associated Press‘ Michelle Roberts began:

A court hearing to decide the fate of the 416 children swept up in a raid on a West Texas polygamist sect descended into farce Thursday, with hundreds of lawyers in two packed buildings shouting objections and the judge struggling to maintain order.

The case – clearly one of the biggest, most convoluted child-custody hearings in U.S. history – presented an extraordinary spectacle: big-city lawyers in suits and mothers in 19th-century, pioneer-style dresses, all packed into a courtroom and a nearby auditorium connected by video.

She goes on to describe the hearing as a circus. The article is packed with tons of information even if it’s a bit heavy on the adjectives. Still, I wonder if “farce” and “circus” are the best words to use. Assuming we still have some presumption of innocence for the accused, they might describe what they’re going through as a tragedy.

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Filed Under: Godbeat, Journalism, People, Politics, Religion, World Religions
  • Rathje

    “Assuming we still have some presumption of innocence for the accused…”

    I think that’s the problem. Almost nobody in the US presumes anything of the sort – including the media covering the story. They’re just expressing frustration that Texas can’t seem to manage to put away all them child rapers properly without all the fuss.

  • http://www.mikehickerson.com Mike Hickerson

    Wade Goodwyn of NPR (link – you have to listen to the mp3 for his story and not the AP version) noted that the FLDS parents appear to be in agony over the judge’s “boisterous” manner (Goodwyn’s word). They are reeling from a family tragedy, yet the judge appears to them to be treating the whole case in a very light manner (again, Goodwyn’s observation, not mine). I doubt that the AP headline will do much to assure the FLDS parents that the outside world takes these events with any kind of seriousness.

  • Brian Walden

    In a court of law the accused enjoy the presumption of innocence. The court of public opinion, as Rathje has pointed out, operates under different rules. To which court do journalists owe the their loyalty?

  • Kirk

    From the time that headline came out, I’ve thought “farce” was a very, very unfortunate choice of words. [I even imagined that if I had been the judge, I would have called the AP and chewed them out.]

    Surely the media owes the public more confidence in the system than that. Have we all really become that jaded?

  • Dave

    I suspect the word was inspired by the fact that there are hundreds of defendants and a like crowd of defense lawyers, all asking the same questions and bringing the proceedings to a crawl — at least to someone accustomed to the brisk pace of trials on Law & Order.

  • Michael

    It sounds like the court room was chaotic, but deciding something is a “farce” takes the judgment to a whole other level. Why not say “chaotic” or “pandemonium” or “confusion” if one needed to use an adjective for color?

  • Kirk

    (Hope it is okay to post this here. Here is a fascinating interview with a former FLDS man who was 18 at the time of the Short Creek raid–

    http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2008/04/short_creek_redux_colorado_cit.php

    Notice that at the end he says that public sentiment could turn against the State of Texas–as it did the State of Arizona at the time of the Short Creek raid–because of the media’s focus on the grief of the mothers whose children have been taken away. Could be an interesting case study on how media coverage affects public sentiment which in turn affects the outcome of state action.

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Michael,

    Very well put — there are many descriptive words that don’t involve an unnecessary value judgment.

  • Julia

    I hope most of those lawyers have experience in Juvenile Court.

    In Illinois, and I’m assuming Texas, there are two aspects to cases involving child abuse. 1) the court acting to protect children which depends on reports from state child social services – the rules of evidence are very different from Law and Order. 2) court acting to decide the guilt of someone accused of a criminal offense – that usually takes place in a different part of the courthouse and is more like Law and Order.

    It is not necessary to prove in regular court that a parent is guilty of breaking a law in order to remove the child from a dangerous situation.