KARACHI:
The rapid expansion of social media has transformed the way information, personalities and even criminal cases are presented to the public. While these platforms have undoubtedly improved communication and access to information, an increasingly troubling trend deserves serious attention: the glorification and sensationalisation of accused persons and alleged offenders through social media content.
With the widespread use of TikTok, short-video platforms and sophisticated editing applications, an ordinary video can be transformed into highly dramatic, cinematic and appealing content through music, graphics, slow motion and carefully selected visuals. Such presentation may generate millions of views and, more importantly, can influence how young people perceive the individuals being portrayed.
This concern becomes particularly serious when individuals facing criminal proceedings are deliberately presented as celebrities or heroes. In some cases, people accused in serious offences are shown arriving at courts surrounded by guards, displaying weapons or projecting an image of power and influence. Videos recorded outside court premises or during court appearances are then edited into dramatic clips and circulated widely on social media.
It is important to maintain the fundamental principle that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court. However, respecting this principle does not require society to romanticise, sensationalise or glorify an accused person’s image. There is a significant difference between reporting a court proceeding in the public interest and deliberately creating content that portrays an accused person as powerful, untouchable or worthy of admiration.
Such portrayals can have a damaging effect on public perceptions of the rule of law. When individuals facing criminal proceedings are repeatedly presented as celebrities, young and impressionable viewers may receive the message that breaking the law, possessing weapons, demonstrating power or facing criminal charges can itself become a source of fame and social status.
This phenomenon also raises concerns about the dignity and sanctity of judicial institutions. Courts are not ordinary locations for social-media content creation. Where photography or videography is restricted inside courtrooms, recording videos in prohibited areas or turning court appearances and corridors into material for promotional social-media content undermines the seriousness and dignity associated with judicial proceedings.
Lawyers, litigants, media-persons and visitors all have a responsibility to respect the rules governing court premises. The purpose of a court appearance is to participate in a legal process, not to create publicity material or construct a social-media persona.
Qazi Fahad Ahmed
Karachi
