RE: [Leica] Journalistic principles

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

Search for the truth? In a courtroom? Eric, what planet have you been living
on? Our "justice" system is not set up to find the "truth," but to determine
which side is more convincing. The contest is supposed to start with the
premise that the accused is "not guilty," and the government, or the
plaintiff in a civil case, must convince the jury that the defendant is
guilty - or liable in a civil case. The defendant's attorney is expected to
do anything and everything he or she can - short of committing or suborning
perjury - to convince the jury not that his or her client is "not guilty,"
but that the government or plaintiff has failed to "prove" guilt. It's a
really neat game, not a search for truth. And if one understands the game -
as I know full well you, as a former journalist, do - one understands how
O.J. Simpson got off.

B. D.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of
> Eric Welch
> Sent: Sunday, November 28, 1999 6:02 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us;
> leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Journalistic principles
>
>
> At 11:23 AM 11/28/1999 -0500, Marc James Small wrote:
> >This conversation will probably remain on a more civil plain
> if you resist
> >your impulse to put words I never said into my mouth.  And I
> never said
> >that the press has no place in the Court-Room nor, as an
> advocate of free
> >speech, would such a position be remotely near my personal beliefs.
>
> I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. Did you not make
> the comment
> that you were glad that certain jurisdictions don't allow
> cameras in the
> courtroom? I find allowing reporters, and not photographers,
> to be highly
> subjective, and in fact hypocritical. But I don't expect
> people outside my
> profession to feel the same way. If that offends you, I'm
> sorry, but that's
> how I see it.
>
> I'm reading "The Runaway Jury" by John Grisham right now, and
> it's leaving
> a very interesting impression on me. Have you read it? That
> and "Inherit
> the Wind" says a lot about how courts work. It's not a search for the
> truth, but an attempt to manipulate the facts to serve a
> position - to win.
> If keeping cameras out allows them to not worry about how
> they look, how
> does that serve democracy?
>
> Eric Welch
> Carlsbad, CA
>
http://www.neteze.com/ewelch




      You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply a matter of noticing
things and organizing them. You just have to care about what's around you
and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy. -Elliott Erwitt,
"More Joy of Photography"