Free Press and Fair Trial

The phrase “free press and fair trial” refers to a decades-long debate between the American press and the legal profession about balancing two rights guaranteed by the Constitution. One is the First Amendment right of the press to freely provide the public with the information necessary for a functioning democracy. The other is the Sixth Amendment right of the public to fair trial by unbiased peers. Both are fundamental rights, the importance of which, as they stand alone, has been acknowledged by both sides. The press and the legal profession, however, have at times been at odds with each other when the two rights clashed during the media coverage of criminal cases, especially high-profile ones.

Members of the legal profession have argued that in high-profile cases ...