'Guilty Until Proven Innocent'

As a former legal professional, it has amazed me the degree of abuse and direct violation of our Constitution that former members of the legal profession who are now paid 'legal analysts' for the major mainstream networks have been able to get away with. My personal favorite is Nancy Grace, that shrill former ex-prosecutor that uses her program to try cases, mostly criminal cases against juveniles, on her show nightly - while shouting down any and all those who do not agree with her vigilante style of justice.

There is a fine line between protecting the rights of the accused to a fair and impartial trial and jury of his peers, and the public's right to know. It appears each and every year, the corporate media lobbyists are erasing those rights for the U.S. citizens, where now for many higher profile cases, even the illusion of an untainted and impartial jury cannot now be maintained, when the cable news networks, and Nancy Grace's, Bill O'Reilly's, Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck's of the world (not to mention the Larry Kings and Chris Wallaces) have already tried and convicted them - through their polls, or slanted and biased reporting. Both sides are alluded to be presented in the 'bring on the lawyers' style of reporting, and credentials presented for some of these commentators - but the 'host' of the program is actually 'biased' one way or the other, and so their truly is no 'balance' in the reporting at all, nor protection of these U.S. citizen's rights to a fair trial. The public's right to know was provided for 'fact' based journalism, not the sensationalism and half-truths which are occurring today. And Ms. Grace at the present time appears to be the worst offender, and don't know how long she practiced law, or whether or not she ever understood her 'ethical' duties when a member of that profession, as appears with respect to journalistic professionalism has absolutely no clue.

The rights of the accused and right to a trial of one's peers should take precedence over Fox, CNN or MSNBC's ratings.