The Jackson Not Guilty Verdict: A Gratifying Blow Against The Lynch Mob

[Itsthetruth]

CounterPunch
June 15, 2005

Juries and Lynch Mobs
What If Jackson had been on Trial in Massachusetts?
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

The twelve did exactly what jurors should do and offered a magnificent example of the abiding importance of the jury as the fundamental bulwark of freedom in this Republic. In their press conference the jurors laid waste the disappointed lynch mob with dignified and articulate responses.

Their bottom line was simple: the prosecution had simply failed to make its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Such outrageous prosecutorial strategies, okayed by the judge, as allowing the jury to hear previous allegations (many of them not even first hand accounts) against Jackson ­ on which he'd not been convicted ­ had cut no ice with these jurors. "He may have molested one of those kids, but they never proved he molested this kid", one juror said.

Nor were the jurors ever jolted from common sense. Those stacks of lurid porn, which the prosecution spent more than a week projecting in front of the jury on a giant screen in an attempt to further sully Jackson's reputation? So what, said a juror. Jackson's an adult. So what if the magazines were called "Barely Legal"? The key word is "legal", offered another juror.

It was a great day for the jury and a gratifying blow against the lynch mob, including outfits such as CNN which averted their gaze from photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib, while stigmatizing Jackson as the supreme abuser.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06152005.html

[KharmaTrain]

1. The Corporate Media's Taken A Beating This Week

Hidden in the headlines is the split up of Viacom...breaking off their radio stations...that dovetailing on NBC/Universal losing 600 million and you start getting a picture that the corporates aren't quite doing happy dances these days.

Add to that the forced coverage...albeit minimal, of the DSM...along with the continuing Gitmo mess. These are stories they didn't want to cover, don't want to cover, but are being forced to cover.

Next comes Jacko...and major egg. Some ran specials showing where Jacko was going to be kept (they all but assigned him a cellmate)...Stewart had it nailed the other night with all those telepundits already claiming his guilt. Ooops. Well, let's see how we can spin out of this one. OK...let's pretend like we knew all along and Jacko's still guilty by being wierd.

Today, it's recalling the Schaivo circus and how over-the-top that circus became. The endless coverage of a story that now proves was a non-story and a major intrusion into a family's private affairs. I keep hoping it opens these networks to litigation as they spread so many hated-filled rumors and charges that courts, and now two independent coroners, proved all along.

Lastly, look at the drop in overall ratings all the cable news channels have seen over the past year. People are tuning away and these networks are attempting to lure them back with cheap non-event news events and constant fighting and arguing. No one wants people to be happy...they don't tune in. You want people angry so they tune in and get even angrier. Misery loves company.

Sadly, there's no repenting going on here. Continued denial, and it appears worse is on the way. The new assclown in charge of CNNServative will be giving up 3 hours of Wolfenstein every day, MSGOP is putting their hopes on Tweety and Bow Tie Boy and Faux continues to live in its own parallel universe.

Thank goodness for so many other video, audio and internet choices.

[pie]

2. Great stuff. Love that COUNTERPUNCH.