ABSTRACT
The judge banned cameras from the courtroom, but did not effectively enforce the ban, and newspapers published photos of the defendant in the dock, the Lindberghs on the witness stand, and jurors in the jury box. With the apparent connivance of officials, a movie camera concealed behind a fan captured clandestine footage of the trial and a directional microphone picked up voices. The trial as spectacle has always been at war with the idea of the trial as a mechanism for neutral fact-finding and detached judgment, insulated from the community. The courts and the legal profession have some power to influence the outcome. How should they use it? Before they do anything, they must understand three things about the nature of the problem. First, the problem involves far more than the criminal defendant's right to a fair trial. Second, the crucial issue is not image but performance. Third, must pay more heed to the effects of publicity on judges.
