Raising The Veil

The media are getting pretty "pissed off" with the secrecy surrounding the forthcoming Michael Jackson trial.

After all, celebrity and the media go hand in hand; without a story to publish the media and the celebrity cease to exist, as they disappear from the public consciousness.

Normally this Faustian pact works well, for both celebrity and media alike, as each feed off each other.

However, Michael Jackson and his defence team are currently "not playing the game"; and are trying to seek anonymity by sealing all documents, relating to his trial for alleged child molestation.

On Friday the media counter-attacked, Theodore Boutros (acting for the media) filed a 50 page appeal to "lift the veil" of secrecy. The rationale being that celebrity status is not enough reason to give you rights of secrecy. He must have been reading my earlier comments on this site!

The First Amendment found itself quoted liberally.

I have to admire Boutrous's pluck; he is opposed not only by Jackson's defence team, but also by Judge Rodney Melville and Tom Sneddon for the prosecution.

As I have already noted in earlier posts, Boutrous reasoned that the "gagging order" would create special rules for celebrities. He also noted that the public should be able to "serve its traditional role as a vigilant guardian of fairness in the criminal justice system".

Now I am sure that he is reading this site!

Judge Melville did release some documents on Friday. However, with echoes of Nixonian paranoia, there were many sections that had been heavily "blacked out".

I have said it before, and I will say it again, the US legal system is beginning to resemble the British one more and more.

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