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Charlie Beckett

November 15th, 2007

Barry George: Trial By Media?

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Charlie Beckett

November 15th, 2007

Barry George: Trial By Media?

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The decision to grant a retrial for Barry George for the murder of Jill Dando is a testament to the commitment of his family but also of the power of the media.

We will never know if the work of various journalists at places like the BBC’s Panorama and Channel 4’s current affairs department made the difference. It was judges not a jury that made the decision so I doubt they were swayed directly by the media itself. But for the appeal to have taken place and the evidence to be gathered was at least in part down to the media campaign.

There was some tremendous journalism involved and it is a credit to the bosses who backed the investigations. George is an extremely unattractive person to campaign for and Jill Dando was a much-loved TV presenter. For once ‘trial by media’ is a virtue.

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Charlie Beckett

Posted In: Journalism