I know most people don’t care about this stuff, but I’ve been continually amazed the past few weeks at how careless many on air people have been when it comes to the accused in a major crime – like murder.
 
In a previous post, I raked 640’s Jeff MacArthur over the coals for a lengthy segment he did on the so-called “crossbow killing,” where he repeatedly acted as though the guy charged in this gruesome act was guilty, saying he killed his brother and his mother, when in fact the case has never even gone to trial. Some took issue with those comments, but I noticed that Corus immediately removed the offending section from their podcast offerings, and it’s not hard to guess why.
 
And then today I hear this promo on CFRB’s Jerry Agar show. “Coming up on the 9:30 news, new information on the crossbow killer.” Yep, convicted him again. Who needs a trial? Guy’s guilty, case closed.
 
Worse yet, earlier this week, I was listening to Larry Fedoruk’s show on CKTB about the shooting of a lawyer in a ritzy Toronto neighbourhood, followed by the swift apprehension of the guy alleged to have pulled the trigger.
 
This wasn’t Larry’s fault, but he had on Ari Goldkind, a prominent Toronto attorney who once ran for mayor in this city. In asking him questions about the incident, Goldkind repeatedly said things like “I want to know why he (the accused) shot this lawyer. I want to know why he took out his gun and tried to kill a colleague.” And on and on it went, convicting the guy who’d been in jail less than 24 hours after the incident.
 
And this guy’s a defence lawyer! If anyone should know better, it’s him.
 
I’m not a legal expert and I don’t play one on TV. And I’m as far from a bleeding heart as you can get. If these guys are judged guilty in a court of law, lock the door and throw away the key. But until then, they’re alleged, accused, or whatever other euphemism you want to pick. As someone who had this drilled into me endlessly in legal seminars in several newsrooms, it can’t be stressed enough.   
 
I’ve never heard such a period of reckless disregard for the presumption of innocence as this past month. And even without a trial, I’m pronouncing these radio people guilty of breaking that law against convicting people until an actual judge does it in court.
 
/End of alleged rant.