Trial by Television—and what courts can and cannot do about it

“Trial by television” is not merely loud coverage; it is a genre.

- TDG NETWORK

The format is familiar: selective leaks framed as certainty, reenactments that look like evidence, panel verdicts delivered before charges are tested, and the accused reduced to a character type. The core institutional problem is not that the media discuss crime—it is that mass broadcast can create a parallel adjudication system that competes with courts for authority.

India’s constitutional architecture forces a balance. Free speech and press freedom (Article 19(1)(a)) are not optional in a democracy, but the right to a fair trial and due process (read into Article 21) is equally foundational. The friction is oldest in criminal cases: pretrial publicity can intimidate witnesses, shape investigative discretion, and harden public “common sense” against the presumption of innocence. India does not have jury trials in ordinary criminal cases, but that does not eliminate prejudice: judges operate in society, witnesses watch TV, and police and prosecutors feel pressure.

What the law says—without turning newsrooms into courtrooms