Christiane Amanpour

 

Christiane Amanpour was born in London, England on January 12, 1958. She grew up in London and went to New Hall School. She then moved to the United States for college. She went to the University of Rhode Island where she majored in Journalism. She graduated summa cum laude in 1983. During her time in college she worked for a local television station in the news department. After college she went on to work for an NBC affiliate in Providence, but then was hired as an assistant for the international news desk.

By 1986 she was working at CNN's New York City bureau as a producer/correspondent. She received her big break in 1989 when she was promoted to a post in West Frankfurt, Germany. She arrived there right at an opportune time when the pro-democratic movement was sweeping eastern Europe and Amanpour quickly became CNN's on-the-spot reporter. She gained distinction in Europe during the Persian Gulf War and she covered the conflict from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Her reporting was credited with bringing the savage nature of that conflict to the attention of the world. In 1992, she became the chief correspondent. 

In 2010, Amanpour left CNN to join the news division at ABC and became the host of ABC's political affairs show called This Week later in the year. She steeped down from the position, however, in December 2011 and in a special arrangement, she resumed her role at CNN while continuing at ABC as their global affairs anchor.

She returned in 2012 on the CNN International channel and in 2017 it began airing on the Public Broadcasting Service. 

After being off the news for a couple of weeks due to "illness" she came on air on February 7, 2022, and Amanpour told viewers that she has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She said surgery had been successful and that she was undergoing chemotherapy. She said she was sharing the news because she wanted to be transparent, but mostly to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis. 

Amanpour has received numerous honors including an Edward R. Murrow Award (2002), 11 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and in 2007 she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. 

Good Night, and Good Luck

 

George Clooney's 2005 award-winning film "Good Night, and Good Luck" takes place during the early years of Broadcast Journalism in the 1950s. Clooney's work based its story on the true events and broadcasting conflict that occurred between Edward Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy in the mid 1950s. Murrow, a CBS reporter, concerned himself with reporting strictly the facts, taking the emotion out of journalism in order to convey the truth. Senator McCarthy a man responsible for the coining of the term "McCarthyism," wanted to "expose" all "communists" living in the U.S. and use fear to sway journalism and sway American sentiments. 

As the film follows the CBS news crew and their response to McCarthy and the fearful society, it shows journalistic heroism at its essence through the efforts of Murrow, producer Fred Friendly, and other team members like Joe Wershba. But, more than anything, the movie shows a relationship between the press and government that existed in the 50s and still exists almost 75 years later. 

The term "the chilling effect" was gained when we heard McCarthy try and call Murrow a communist on national television. He tried to turn all of society against him. The term is characterized by fear and intimidation tactics employed by the government in order to silence their opposition in the fourth estate. 

Murrow and his team show what being a part of the press is truly about. If writers and broadcasters sat in fear, letting others control what they wrote or said, then journalists would simply be a tool in a political handyman's chest, waiting to be called on to advance someone else's agenda. The actions of CBS ultimately set a precedent for journalism in decades to come and displayed the sacrifices that were necessary to achieve the overall standard of accuracy and transparency that reporting requires.

EOTO #3 Trial By Media

Trial by media is a popular phrase that has been used in the late 20th century and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person’s reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt or innocence before or after a verdict in a court of law.

The media conducts a separate investigation that builds up thew public opinion against the accused before the case even reaches the court. In recent years the media has been seen as a "public court" and has began to interfere in court proceedings.

The problem with trial by media is that the media misuses freedom of speech and expression which creates an interference in the process of the justice system. In the past there have been multiple occasions when the media has been accused of conducting a trial of the accused and passing the verdict before the court passes their own judgement. 

This has a major effect on the accused because as a result of the exposure by the media, the individual whether guilty or innocent will have to live under intense public scrutiny. Their social image is also ruined by it. 

Under the sixth amendment, every defendant is entitled to a trial by an impartial jury, but due to extensive media coverage, jury selection in a high profile case is extremely difficult. Jurors will likely have developed some biases or knowledge about the case based on media coverage. Potential Jurors are assessed during the void dire process. 

There are numerous ways that the court can address pre-trial publicity. Despite the biasing effect of pre-trial publicity, the Supreme Court has ruled that courts cannot stop the press from publicizing truthful information about criminal trials and in doing this it would be a violation of the First Amendment right too freedom of the press. Pre-trial publicity cannot be prevented, which means that courts must find ways to minimize its impact on the fairness of the trial. 

There are some famous trials that have "trial in the media" involved. These are: Ted Bundy (1980), OJ Simpson (1995), Casey Anthony (2011), and Jodi Arias (2015). Out of all of these, the trial of OJ Simpson is probably one of the most famous.

 OJ Simpson was a former NFL star who was acquitted in 1995 for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. On the night of June 12, 1944, Simpson's ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman were found murdered outside of her home. Simpson soon became a suspect and instead of surrendering to the police, he hid inside the back of a sport-utility vehicle driven by his friend A.C Cowlings. After law enforcement was notified that Simpson had a gun, they followed the car for over an hour.

Because OJ Simpson was a known NFL player, many individuals viewed him as a good guy, not being able to commit such a crime. This automatically caused conflict because so many people already had different views on him whether it was good or bad. The trial was then turned into a racial issue. Coverage began to turn further away from the truth and began to report lies instead of facts. The media published stories before confirming any of the facts and they had people write stories that did not know what they were talking about in actual court proceedings.