Popular Trials: Rhetoric, Mass Media, and the Law (Studies in Rhetoric and Communication)

Annotation Contemporary scholarship illustrates the laws increasingly powerful role in American life; legal education, in turn, has focused on the problems and techniques of communication. This book addresses these interests through critical study of eight popular trials: the 17th-century trial of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, and the 20th-century trials of Scopes, the Rosenbergs, the Chicago Seven, the Catonsville Nine, John Hinckley, Claus von Bulow, and San Diego Mayor Larry Hedgecock. Such trials spark major public debates, become symbols of public life, and legitimize particular beliefs and institutions. Despite high visibility and drama, however, the popular trial has not received sufficient study as persuasive event. Lying at the intersection of the institutional practices of law and the mass media, the popular trial has confounded study according to the conventional assumptions of scholarship in both law and communication studies. This volume defines popular trials as a genre of public communication, a genre that includes trials unusually prominent within public discourse. Further, popular trials are often characterize by special media presentations through televised coverage of the trial itself and news analysis, intense audience identification with the principal actors, and political and social consequences independent of the legal action. The essays in this volume stress the rhetorical functions of popular trials. Contributors in addition to the editor include Lawrance M. Bernabo, Barry Brummett, Celeste Michelle Condit, Juliet Dee, Susan J. Drucker, J. Justin Gustainis, Janice Platt Hunold, William Lewis, John Louis Lucaites, and Larry A. Williamson

Contemporary scholarship illustrates the law’s increasingly powerful role in American life; legal education, in turn, has focused on the problems and techniques of communication. This book addresses these interests through critical study of eight popular trials: the 17th-century trial of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, and the 20th-century trials of Scopes, the Rosenbergs, the Chicago Seven, the Catonsville Nine, John Hinckley, Claus von Bulow, and San Diego Mayor Larry Hedgecock. Such trials spark major public debates, become symbols of public life, and legitimize particular beliefs and institutions. Despite high visibility and drama, however, the popular trial has not received sufficient study as persuasive event. Lying at the intersection of the institutional practices of law and the mass media, the popular trial has confounded study according to the conventional assumptions of scholarship in both law and communication studies.

            This volume defines popular trials as a genre of public communication, a genre that includes trials unusually prominent within public discourse. Further, popular trials are often characterize by special media presentations through televised coverage of the trial itself and news analysis, intense audience identification with the principal actors, and political and social consequences independent of the legal action. The essays in this volume stress the rhetorical functions of popular trials. Contributors in addition to the editor include Lawrance M. Bernabo, Barry Brummett, Celeste Michelle Condit, Juliet Dee, Susan J. Drucker, J. Justin Gustainis, Janice Platt Hunold, William Lewis, John Louis Lucaites, and Larry A. Williamson.

Frontmatter Preface (page vii) Introduction (page 1) 1. Performing the Laws: Popular Trials and Social Knowledge (Robert Hariman, page 17) 2. Constitutional Argument in a National Theater: The Impeachment Trail of Dr. Henry Sacheverell (John Louis Lucaites, page 31) 3. Two Stories of the Scopes Trial: Legal and Journalistic Articulations of the Legitimacy of Science and Religion (Lawrance M. Bernabo and Celeste Michelle Condit, page 55) 4. Constraints on Persuasion in the Chicago Seven Trial (Juliet Dee, page 86) 5. Power, Knowledge, and Insanity: The Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr. (William F. Lewis, page 114) 6. The Claus von Bulow Retrial: Lights, Camera, Genre? (Susan J. Drucker and Janice Platt Hunold, page 133) 7. The Saga of Roger Hedgecock: A Case Study in Trial by Local Media (Larry A. Williamson, page 148) 8. Crime as Rhetoric: The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (J. Justin Gustainis, page 164) 9. Mediating the Laws: Popular Trials and the Mass Media (Barry Brummett, page 179) Notes (page 194) Bibliography (page 238) Contributors (page 251) Index (page 253) Performing The Laws: Popular Trials And Social Knowledge / Robert Hariman -- Constitutional Argument In A National Theater: The Impeachment Trial Of Dr. Henry Sacheverell / John Lucaites -- Twp Stproes Of The Scopes Trial: Legal And Journalistic Articulations Of The Legitimacy Of Science And Religion / Lawrance M. Bernabo And Celeste Michelle Condit -- Constraints On Persuasion In The Chicago Seven Trial / Juliet Dee -- Power, Knowledge, And Insanity: The Trial Of John W. Hinckley, Jr. / Wiliam F. Lewis -- The Claus Von Bulow Retrial: Lights, Camera, Genre? / Susan J. Drucker And Janice Platt Hunold. The Saga Of Roger Hedgecock: A Case Study In Trial By Local Media / Larry A. Williamson -- Crime As Rhetoric: The Trial Of The Catonsville Nine / J. Justin Gustains -- Mediating The Laws: Popular Trial And The Mass Media / Barry Brummett. Edited By Robert Hariman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 238-250) And Index.