Media Education Series
Framing an Execution : The Media and Mumia Abu Jamal
March 16, 2005
| Length: | 0:50:00 |
| Next Air Dates: | No upcoming airtimes are currently scheduled |
Program Description:
The case of Mumia Abu Jamal, a journalist on Pennsylvania's death row in connection with the death of a police officer, had become by the late 1990s a global symbol of the inequities in the US judicial system. The mainstream media could no longer ignore it, but how would they cover such a hotly disputed case and the questions of judicial bias that it raises? ABC, on its newsmagazine show 20/20, set the journalistic tone for how to cover this controversial story in a special report, "Hollywood's Unlikely Hero." While characterizing the defense as "passionate" and uninformed, ABC star reporter Sam Donaldson claimed to provide the "facts" based on ABC's "4-month investigation of the case." This program examines how Donaldson's framing of the case stands up to the available facts and how it measures up to basic journalistic standards of fairness, balance, and accuracy. It also raises disturbing questions about media and judicial ethics.
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