Civics

Chapter 8- Covering Criminal Courts
This chapter focused on criminal court cases.
I found this interesting: in law the correct terms are guilty or not guilty and never "proven innocent" but in reporting the proper term is "not guilty" because in case the "not" is somehow dropped the message does not change. I never thought about that before but it definitely makes sense.
Then there was the information on the term "Gag Order" which is when the media's access to a trial is limited due to the lawyers "trying their case in media more than the courtroom." I think that the media SHOULD be allowed in the courtroom. It is a public place and it is a right that we have in America to have access to court. HOWEVER, it is very important that the media does not sensationalize a trial, it important to stick to the facts and not create more conflict and tension that may not exist.
Finally a good tip was to pay attention during jury selection because it says alot about the trial. Sometimes jury selection is held in jury chambers but reporters are STILL allowed access except in unusual cases.

Chapter 9- Covering Civil Court Cases
In my Iroquois and Their Neighbors class we are studying the court cases of the Cayuga and Oneida so all this extra information on civil cases is really helpful. Basically civil cases take a long time to go to court and are not usually followed as closely as criminal cases because "pre-trial" is so lengthy. It was interesting to see how media plays a part before a case. Something news worthy may have sparked a civil case OR be used in a case.

After reading these court articles I realized I am much more interested in the workings court than I thought I was, I guess this is good because I may be reporting on it one day.