A Study Of Trial By Media In Li Tianyi Cass

The paper aims at studying the issue of trial by media (TBM) in the criminal case of Li Tianyi that happened in2013in China. The issue is studied in the following aspects:Does trial by media exist in Li Tianyi case; does trial by media influence judicial trial in this case; if so, how; what could trial by media result in? The paper further attempts to find out the causes of trial by media from legal perspective and offers feasible solutions to the issue.The paper employs the theory of sensationalism to explore how media exerts direct or indirect influences on the judicial trial. The sensationalism theory is used to analyze media coverage of Li Tianyi case by analyzing the headlines and the text of articles covering the case. Besides, the paper tries to shed light on how media attacked the accused before judicial trial to cater to the preferences of readers. In addition, based on reviewing the studies of western scholars on the issue of trial by media and given China’s situation, the paper further explores and discusses the issue of trial by media.The paper employs case study to make in-depth study of the case. The author chooses three news outlets and analyzes the articles published before the trial on the three news outlets. The author analyzes the comments of online readers on representative coverage about the criminal case and the tweets about Li Tianyi case of Sina weibo users. The author also interviews two experts to get their insights about the issue of trial by media in the case.The paper finds that the three news outlets, to attract public attention, used a majority of sensational headlines and that most articles from the three news outlets are biased against Li Tianyi. More than50%readers after reading the articles from three news outlets and Sina weibo users believed Li Tianyi is guilty and should be punished seriously. According to the results and the definition of trial by media, it is obvious that trial by media exists in Li Tianyi case. Judge Cai from Miyun People Court believed that Li Tianyi was punished too severely, because generally such criminal would be sentenced to five to seven years without the influence of media and public opinions. To sum up, the study results show that trial by media exists in the case and media influence judicial trial via causing the pressure from the public opinion on judges.