Eugene Robinson: Coverage of O.J. Simpson Trial Was ‘Day One’ of the Current Media Landscape

EXCERPT:

ROBINSON: "Absolutely. This was day one of the media landscape we live in now. You know, people, certainly my age, your age, we remember that trial, the drama of that trial. The characters were so vivid. It was really the first time, I think, that the nation collectively got to watch the process of a trial, got to watch a really skilled and expensive defense team sort of pick apart a prosecution case, or at least create enough reasonable doubt that — to convince a jury to acquit, you know, in a verdict that a lot of people think was unjust and that even more people think was fundamentally wrong, I think it was wrong, I think he did it, but a different question as to whether the case was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. And we saw the sort of messiness and, I would argue, the greatness of our legal system, because it is weighted in favor of the defendant. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. And it left, I think, nobody really happy, except O.J. Simpson and his defense team. And then, of course, O.J. later got sentenced to 33 years in prison, an incredibly harsh sentence for armed robbery, he was trying to get back some sports memorabilia in Las Vegas, had a gun. A lot of people saw that as a makeup call, to sort of make up for the fact that he didn’t get convicted for the murders."