ABSTRACT
Judge Jeffrey Minehart entered his Philadelphia courtroom on an April morning in 2013 and, spying a gaggle of reporters seated in a special section reserved for the press, told the jury, “It’s come to my attention that media coverage of this case has increased” (Dennis & Somashekhar, 2013). The reporters had shown up for the criminal trial of Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor on trial for the murder of one woman and seven newborns killed after being delivered alive. Known in the local media as the “House of Horrors” trial, the case rose to prominence in the U.S. press after the release of a stunningly graphic grand jury report two years earlier. But the trial had largely escaped notice, and the press box had been devoid of national reporters as the trial drew on. Then something happened. A loose coalition consisting mainly of conservative activists waged a campaign to persuade the national news media to spotlight the case. More reporters did come, with around 30 on hand for the guilty verdict. The story became national news.
