ABSTRACT

In December 1982, the body of a young man was discovered in a field in rural Vermillion County, Indiana. The young man, later identified as Steve Agan of Terre Haute, Indiana, had been brutally beaten and stabbed many times:

On October 21, 1990, an article in The Tribune-Star linked Agan's death to convicted murderer Larry Eyler, who was awaiting execution in Illinois for an unrelated murder (Kaufman, 1990). During a courtroom confession in December 1990, Larry Eyler accused Dr. Robert David Little, a professor at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, of directing and actively participating in the murder of Steve Agan in December 1982 [Baker, December 13, 1990; Pastore, December 14, 1990]. From October 21, 1990, to July 18, 1991, two newspapers, The TribuneStar (TTS) and The Daily Clintonian (TDC), would publish a combined total of 124 news items pertaining to this case. Much of this coverage contained statements and information that could be construed as being prejudicial or biased toward Professor Little.