Justice in the press?

Justice in the press?

Over the past four years, the trials of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Knox's roommate in Perugia, British study-abroad student Meredith Kercher, have received international media attention. In Italy and the United Kingdom, many of the lurid front-page headlines and articles portrayed Knox

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Thu 13 Oct 2011 12:00 AM

Over the past four years, the trials of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Knox’s roommate in Perugia, British study-abroad student Meredith Kercher, have received international media attention. In Italy and the United Kingdom, many of the lurid front-page headlines and articles portrayed Knox as a twisted, heartless murderer. The American press generally supported her innocence, characterizing the first trial as a miscarriage of justice. Since the court’s decision, on October 3, to acquit Knox and Sollecito, the international press has presented Knox as a victim of a blundering Italian judicial system and forensics farce. Kirsten Hills, analysing the recent Italian, UK, and US media coverage, asks whether the case will have a long-lasting impact and if the truth about Kercher’s death will ever be found.

 

Views from the United States: An innocent girl’s 1,400+ days behind bars

 

The harshest criticisms of the investigation and forensics evidence came from the United States. The case was ‘a severe embarrassment to the Italian judicial system,’ said MSNBC. Now that Knox is home, the American media has turned its attention turned to the flaws in the case against her and the system that took four years to prove her innocence. 

 

The Seattle Times, Knox’s hometown newspaper, has always argued her innocence, calling Perugia prosecutor Giuliano Mignini’s version of the facts ‘too far-fetched.’ 

 

However, USA Today recognised that the same legal system that imprisoned Knox in the first place also freed her. Despite shocking errors in the way the evidence was collected and tested, the appeals process in Italy is one of the most thorough in the world, and the American press, including National Public Radio, acknowledged this. ‘Bravo for Italy,’ wrote the New York Times.

 

View from Italy: A verdict that leaves a bitter taste

 

La Repubblica reported the anger of crowds outside Perugia courts, shouting ‘shame’ and ‘guilty,’ not at Knox and Sollecito, but at the judges and lawyers involved in the case. It contrasted Italians’ reaction with the cries of joy that came from the American satellite trucks parked by the courts.

 

A number of publications have used the case to reflect on the Italian judicial system. The verdict ‘satisfies no one,’ and is a ‘bitter pill to swallow’ for Italy, says La Stampa. The Italian broadsheet says the debate now ‘shifts to the efficiency of our judicial system and the capacity of our judges,’ claiming there are too many murder cases ‘failing to convince.’ 

 

Corriere Della Sera believes the media circus played a large part in confusing the case; its journalists blamed the British media for demonising Knox and the American press for indiscriminately supporting her. Corriere says the case is evidence that the Italian judicial system just doesn’t work. 

 

Even The Florentine felt the heat, receiving e-mails after the latest ruling, some of which contained such comments as ‘you disgusting Italian commie pigs took this young gifted American hostage for four years.’ 

 

View from the UK: Who is the real victim? 

 

The international media’s fascination with Knox eclipsed discussion of the murdered Kercher, as UK newspaper Daily Mirror reminded readers with a recent headline ‘Meredith Who?’ Likewise, the Daily Mail demanded ‘Give Our Girl Justice Too.’ The Times focused on the dignity of the Kercher family, who after the verdict accepted the court’s ruling, but lambasted the Italian judicial system for being ‘farcically incompetent.’ Conversely, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and others have speculated on Knox’s now lucrative future, as offers pour in from publishing and television companies. 

 

The lingering questions: Is truth a victim, too?

 

Although Knox and Sollecito have now been acquited, the Kercher family is still no closer to knowing the truth about what happened. Is it therefore possible to say that justice has truly been done? 

 

 

Does this complex case have long-lasting implications for the press, as well as Italy’s courts and law enforcement? Let us know what you think; e-mail inbox@theflorentine.net.

 

 

 

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