The “interactive bug” seems to be biting more and more of our newspaper Web sites. It is a trend that I find somewhat repulsive not so much because I think news sites should repress feedback. It is just that a lot of times you see more of your own community, your own culture even, than you would really like. Such displays also raise the chances for many dire unintended consequences from pronouncements that are just colossal knee-jerking.
Take some of these comments on my local daily newspaper Web site regarding a story of great interest in our area over a shocking crime. While I have a visceral reaction not unlike some of my fellow Southeast Texans, I can only wonder what effect such open observations might have on a potential jury pool. Also, I ponder how such reactions compounded by thousands of news media sites now and in the future might have on jurisprudence in general.
My thoughts have nothing to do with being tough or soft on those who break the law. Instead, it’s a selfish notion but one I feel every American has the right to chew over: What if I were arrested for some crime I didn’t commit? What if it was you? I believe the Innocence Project and other instances where people were found to be unjustly convicted makes such a question an even more legitimate in this day and age.
Tragedies such as this one in our area — still fraught with many unanswered questions — are bad enough. But a rush to judgment in this and any other crime does nothing good if the guilty party or parties go free.