The televised mediated trial: Formal and substantive characteristics

Abstract

Mediated trials are distinct from trials observed in person. The author argues that trials observed face‐to‐face are distinct from televised mediated trials. Because television “reformats”; the events it covers, the medium affects what viewers ultimately understand the legal process to be. The authors posit that televised trials should be approached as a media event that represents a discrete genre of television programming, the televised mediated trial. Generic features of face‐to‐face trials and televised mediated trials affect what is communicated to an audience. Implications for public knowledge of the legal system are then discussed.