ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that the symbols provided by the media representations of the Louise Woodward case over-coded reality in order to secure the image of familial integrity. It develops a thesis which links the powerful institution of the mass media to Girard's model of mimetic desire. The chapter shows how media institutions step in when normal disciplinary systems breakdown, that is the police, judicial system and state authority. Akin to both Foucault's ideas about social regulation, and Louis Althusser's notion of ideological state apparatus, it also shows how cases such as Woodward's interrupt normal regulatory practices because of their socio-legal ambiguity. The chapter provides a forum for public sphere debate devoted to reinforcing social norms. It proposes that the historical perspective found in both the Girardian analytical framework and Habermasian notions of public sphere debate provide a more communicative forum for democratic discussion because they allow for conversation, reflexivity, and judgement.
