Depp vs Heard: What we can learn from the public trial of the celebrities

The entertainment industry all over the world enjoys publicity. It continues to get the attention of the paparazzi and the media cannot stay away from writing columns about it. Sometimes it appears that the industry cannot operate without them and the agencies are like pillars of the celeb world. One such event that drew the attention of the global news house was the Depp-Heard trial. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been under the surveillance since their marriage back in 2015. However, their relationship garnered even more limelight when they filed for a divorce and the latter accused him of abuse.

The main topic of discussion in the trial was domestic violence and abuse. But it somehow faded and became a war of who supports whom. Harassment and abuse are very grave issues that taint modern civilization. Moreover, they tend to hinder the correct functioning of society. Whenever a known personality is involved in any of the societal evils, even if it is murder, the journalists focus on the support they get or the hatred they receive and try to cash in on the publicity rather than talking about the issue. Not just mainstream media but also social media tends to lose interest in the topic and they too get involved in proving the righteous.

THE MEDIA DOES IT AGAIN…

This is not the first incident, in the past as well the media’s interest moved from the issue and they focused more on knowing if the accused is proven guilty. The 1990s trial of Orenthal James Simpson is more famous because of the media attention it received, rather than the heinous crime the former NFL player was charged with. Simpson was accused of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

The court also observed the accusation of violence he perpetrated on his wife. His acquittal of crimes was discussed more rather than talking about the real issues: murder and domestic violence cases that were on a rise. After so many years media is again taking charge of deviating from the cause and the public is following the lead.

WHY ARE WE TALKING?

Common people design a society. Mainstream subjects like domestic violence must be covered through the eyes of the general public instead of the perspective framed by those with resources. The most affected are the majority population who have to struggle every single minute of their lives. We need to bring the matter in question to the limelight instead of the so-called personalities involved, alternatively, the point of concern should be people who suffer the same fate daily. Not only the news outlets are at fault, the eventual consumers we are responsible too, because they only feed what we want to have. We need to demand the scoping of the actual topic, in this case, domestic violence.

MEDIA THE DEVIL

We cannot make the reporting industry the ultimate baddie. Their role is more of an anti-villain. We should not forget that they bring many matters to our notice, especially social networking media houses. Today a person accused of a crime can be canceled online which taints his image and can damage his position. The Chris Brown and Rihanna case is a very good example because the incident was never tried in court, but his place in the community was castigated.

The trial is over and the verdict came in favour of Depp. But it does not excuse the skepticism they both faced before the judgment.

Perhaps the best lesson we can learn from the case is that the focal point should be on societal evils like domestic violence which tends to hinder the development, rather than conviction and acquittal.

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