Media Frenzy in the O.J. Simpson Trial

Abstract

 The following is an essay written on the topic ‘Media Frenzy in the O.J. Simpson trial”. The O.J. Simpson case is known as the trial of the century and is a classic example of how the American criminal system works. The O.J. Simpson case brought forward the existing conflict of racial differentiation between the whites and the blacks. The worse aspect of this trial was the role of the media and the way in which they presented the whole scenario, which is discussed in detail in this essay.

Why was the media frenzy evident in the O.J. Simpson trial?

Media plays an evident role in many aspects of life and in many events. Sometimes the role played by media regarding an event can be biased and sometimes full of conspiracy. The media played the worst role in the trial of O.J Simpson. The O.J Simpson trial was a trial, which depicted the ever-existing conflict of racism between the whites and the blacks. The O.J. Simpson trial was termed many times as ‘the trial of the century’. The reason behind it was that this trial comprised of all the constituents of a key event in the history of America such as race, violence, dispensation, the fortitude of the Californian politics. On top of it all it was the most offensive display of the underlying tension and clashes that existed between the blacks and whites and of how they perceived the criminal justice system. The gravest aspect of this trial was that it worsened the racial conflicts between the two groups instead of improving them, infact this trial made the feelings behind those conflicts even stronger.

Johnnie Cochran was Simpson’s lawyer and he had always been there when the people needed him to fight for justice. Since the 1960’s to the 21’st century Johnnie Cochran had always worked for the justice system to work properly. This trial did not show an African lawyer who was just protecting his client because of the fact that he was an African too, what it showed was an African American lawyer who was rational, vivacious, well prepared and bold. Johnnie Cochran was not there to defend a man that belonged to the same race as his but he was there to defend his innocent client from the wrong accusation of being a murderer.  The black celebration was not to celebrate the freedom of a guilty man from a case, but it was the celebration of the fact that there was finally somebody who had the guts and confidence to stand up to the system and highlight its errors. The celebration was all about a lawyer who defended his client and not a depiction of being least bothered about the brutal murder of the victims or of a criminal system that had many errors. The fact that was celebrated was basically the justice system that let somebody pass through it when it seemed almost impossible to.

The Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark was fighting the case against O.J Simpson and she showed the evidence against Simpson by saying ‘there was a path of blood where there should be no blood’ which started from Nicole Brown’s (O.J. Simpsons wife of whose murder he was accused) condominium to Simpson’s home. She further added that there was hair found on the knit cap that matched Simpson’s hair, the socks in his bedroom that had traces of the victim’s blood, and the cut on Simpson’s hand. The main reason why O.J. Simpson was accused of his wife’s murder was that they were on the end of their seventeen-year-old relationship, which Simpson did not want. Simpson’s Johnnie Cochran negated this accusation and proof, of Simpson committing the murder by declaring that his client had accepted the end of his unsuccessful marriage and as for his presence near the murder scene at the time of murder he said that he was friendly and sociable that evening at the musical recital for his daughter. He was no where near South Bundy the time the murders occurred and was not at all panicked or stressed out on his flight to Chicago (O.J Simpson Trial).

As it has been discussed earlier in this essay, the media played a worse role in this trial and gave rise to negative emotions that existed between the whites and blacks.  The media frenzy on this case caused a great deal of difficulties and made it almost impossible for O.J. Simpson to be tried fairly. The media wrongly depicted the theme of trial which reflected it to be a case in which it was important to ‘win it first’ rather than the ‘right man to win’ (The O.J. verdict). The media had overblown the issue and made it a race to win not a case to try and the victim to be prosecuted if guilty. The case had been converted into a conflict between the races- the whites and the blacks. The whole issue of the case was diverted into dialogues and conflicts between the opinions of the whites and blacks. It became an issue, which was full of controversies and biased editorials. The media’s biased role was the reason of O.J. Simpsons release if he was guilty of the murders.

References

O.J Simpson Trial, Retrieved on October 5^th 2006 from:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/begin_9.html

The O.J. Verdict, Retrieved on October 5^th 2006 from:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/oj/interviews/ogletree.html