Online Media Mislead Readers About Jury Awards, Report Says

The Center for Justice & Democracy has published a report claiming that digital media has skewed the public’s perception of civil cases by covering only the most sensational, and sometimes frivolous, outcomes. The center’s executive director said that online media’s short bursts of news with quick headlines “commonly emphasize large monetary awards, which do not reflect typical verdicts, and rarely note the misconduct that led to the verdict in the first place.” The report tracked news over an 80-day period, finding verdicts reported on were 192 times higher than the national average of damages awarded. https://www.fairwarning.org/2011/10/online-media-mislead-readers-about-jury-awards-report-says/