In this social media dominated world, we need to ask ourselves: is it truly possible to find a jury of people who haven’t already made up their minds about a criminal case? The phrase “trial by social media”- which was highlighted by Johnson and Keyzer is an excellent phrase to describe what has been and is happening to legal cases that are brought to millions of peoples attention through social media. An excellent example of this is the recent rape and murder of Jill Meagher in Victoria. The case of the missing ABC reporter had widespread attention from all media formats. Social media outlets including twitter and Facebook played a significant role in bringing the case to prominence and in helping- and sometimes hindering- the police and their investigation.
The impact of social media affects one of the fundamental tenets of the criminal justice system: the presumption of innocence.  After her body was found and Adrian Ernest Bailey was arrested, many people took to social media to voice their opinion, and most people had already made up their minds about his guilt. The notion of independence and impartiality that can easily be corrupted by the constant stream of information may actually impact adversely on what is the best possible outcome here – for the Courts to do their job and justice to be served.

This recording was first recorded on an MacBook app (“Recorder”, purchased from the app store). To complete this task and recording I read the following articles and many more. I found that there were hundreds of articles and writings not only on the tragic death of Jill Meagher but also articles on the influence of the media in her killers trial. I have provided an annotated bibliography below- 
•	Johnson, Jane, Keyzer, Patrick, 17 April 2013, ‘Trial by Social Media: Why we need to properly educate juries” , The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/trial-by-social-media-why-we-need-to-properly-educate-juries-13547, Accessed on 12-09-13
o	This article gave me insight into the issue of social media in a courtroom. It gave a possible, rational solution to the issue at hand. Johnson and Keyzer describe the impact social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can have on a criminal case. This was put into context with the murder of Jill Meagher as an example. 
•	Smith, Tom;. 2009, ‘The Social Media Revolution”, International Journal of Market Research, Vol 51, Issue 4, pp559-561
o	Tom Smith discusses the impact that social media has on peoples opinions. He also describes the impact of the online world, on our offline opinions. 
•	Akerman, Pia, ‘Social Media Could Impact Jury Trial of Jill Meaghers Alleged Killer Adrian Ernest Bayley’, The Australian, 1st October 2012, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/social-media-could-impact-jury-trial-of-jill-meaghers-alleged-killer-adrian-ernest-bayley/story-e6frg6n6-1226485743514, Accessed on 13-09-2013
o	This article outlines the Jill Meagher case, gives factual information about the social media surrounding the case and allowed me to understand the consequences of social media being involved with a very public case. 
•	Pearlman, Jonathan, ‘Lord Justice Leveson calls for new laws to curb ‘mob rule’ on the internet’, The Telegraph, 7th December 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9728803/Lord-Justice-Leveson-calls-for-new-laws-to-curb-mob-rule-on-the-internet.html, Accessed on 11-09-2013
o	This article gives insight into influential English judge and Lord Justice of Appeal Brian Leveson’s opinion on social media. He believes that laws need to be changed in order to protect privacy.

nidalawad