Social Media and Court Cases

Lauren Lee is a University of Memphis graduate student working on her master's project, which is an examination of the media's impact on the Noura Jackson case. Jackson was a Memphis teenager convicted in 2009 of stabbing her mother to death in their East Memphis home (pictured at right). I sit down with Lee to talk about social media, courts and crime.

Q1: What is the focus of your project?
LL: The focus of my project is how the media effects court cases. I looked specifically at the Noura Jackson case, which was about a girl who stabbed her mother over 50 times in 2005.

Q2: How did social media help you during the project?
LL: I used Facebook to contact some of Noura Jackson’s friends to see if they would let me interview them. I looked at friends that we had in common and that led me to one of my the valuable interviews for my project.

Q3: How has social media changed coverage of high-profile court cases in general?
LL: These days people are able to receive coverage on a moment’s notice. Reporters can now blog from the courtroom and that has allowed the public to have minute-by-minute access to what is happening during a trial.

Q4: How is blogging being used in relation to court cases?
LL: Blogging seems to be very beneficial in many ways. Some of the lawyers I spoke with for my project said that they used the blogs during trials they were working on to check with their notes. Also, I think it gives people who are not able to come to a trial the ability to still gain information on what happens in court.

Q5: What kinds of things would you like to see on a blog about court cases?
LL: I’d like to see as much information from the days proceedings as possible. Obviously reporters are never going to be able to type everything that they here and see in the courtroom, that would be impossible. However, I think that getting the information out to the public the best they can, and trying to remain unbiased in their reporting offers great insight to the public.

Q6: What cases do you follow in the media?
LL: I have continued to follow the Casey Anthony case. That is actually the case that led me to doing my project. I have remained intrigued with that case since the day the little girl went missing and it was in the news. I also keep up with the West Memphis 3 case, since it’s a local case that has gained so much national attention. I think that anytime a case receives a lot of media attention it is hard for me not to follow it, because I feel like I have to find out the outcome.

(Editor's note: I'll be posting a link when Lauren complete the project, as it will also be displayed on a website.)