Holly and Jessica News Bulletins

[rarll]

Why, at the end of every bulletin regarding this trial, do the news readers alwasy say that the two accused are pleading not guilty to the charges put before them? Is it a legal requirement?

[andy hughes]

It's to remind everyone that under our legal system, the accused are innocent until proven guilty, and to plead 'Not guilty' is their legal right. In theory it should prevent viewers from pre-judging the accused - after all, that's the tabloids' job!

[gilf]

It always makes me smile when they do this on the BBC website, I follow trials on the BBC and at the end of every article they use the same 2 lines. "The defentant is pleading not guilty" "The case continues". I think as andy huges says it basically saying that while the evidence presented for that day could lead you to believe somebodys guilty remember that this is not the end of the trial and different evidence and statments must be taken as a whole.

[FredPuli]

Something which is very galling for the defence and the defendant is that newspapers report the prosecution's opening as though it were evidence. The public gets all the allegations in lurid detail but if the defendant is acquitted this is rarely reported or is not given the prominence of the accusations. So he goes off with the slur in the public mind uncorrected. The BBC practice at least keeps the claims in context.