Hostage Case Shows Courts and Media Are Out of Sync

This is getting absurd. The Blob is out of control.

Last Tuesday, Robert Jacobsen, the man accused of murder and, in a separate incident, taking hostages in a Chula Vista medical clinic, was arraigned. Municipal Judge Jay Bloom, granting a defense request, ordered the gathered news photographers not to show pictures of Jacobsen in court.

The result was the return of the Blob. KNSD-TV (Channel 39) showed Jacobsen in court, obscuring his face. Then Channel 39 showed the dramatic video of Jacobsen being arrested outside the clinic, with his face clearly visible.

Most other news organizations went a step further, simply ignoring the video from court and showing Jacobsen’s mug shot, the video of his arrest or any of the other visual images available of his face.

The news organizations were perfectly justified in showing Jacobsen’s face. After all, he had been seen on live television for almost a full day, and if the television and newspapers have photos available, they have every right to use them. The judge’s order only referred to Jacobsen in court.

This has become something of a game. Judges say don’t use the court pictures of the accused. Reporters nod their heads and then go back to the newsroom and find different pictures.

The courts and media are clearly out of sync. Judges feel they have to go through the motions to protect defendants, even if deep down they know their requests do no good. Although the media usually follow requests by law enforcement or the district attorney’s office, only the courts can order the media to comply, and they are usually limited to what happens in court.

Editors believe they should honor the court orders, yet also feel compelled to give the public as much information as possible, including visual images of the suspect if they can do it legally.

The end result is the Blob, which makes television news look silly, even though it is really the legal system that is playing the games.

The media are simply trying to do their jobs. Although some people seem to think sensationalism is the only motivation understood by the media, the usually undramatic pictures of suspects standing around that come out of initial court proceedings don’t sell more papers or attract more viewers. But they do give the public valuable information.

Some judges seem to forget that courts are inherently public places where anybody can walk in and see a defendant, which is one reason cameras are allowed into local courts in the first place (although federal courts still ban photographers).

“Sometimes judges act in a defensive fashion without really looking at the situation,” said Channel 39 News Director Irv Kass. “Rather than take a position for the media and public access, they will take a position they perceive as safe.”

In the Jacobsen case, it was an arraignment where little information was available to the court. Judge Bloom would not discuss specifics of the case, but he did say that, in capital cases, many judges tend to honor defense requests to have the media obscure the face of a defendant in order to cut down on the number of issues that could be brought up in an appeal.

He pointed out that, in an arraignment procedure, judges are simply looking at a case file and often know little more about the particulars of a case.

Although Jacobsen’s face was splattered all over television during the hostage scene, public defender Victor Eriksen said he asked Bloom to restrict the media because the killing, which happened a few days before the hostage situation, involved completely separate identification issues. He wants to avoid a situation where a witness of one crime would automatically link the accused to the second.

Eriksen also was new to the case at Tuesday’s hearing and didn’t know the extent of the media coverage. He made the request just to be on the safe side, and the judge clearly had similar intentions when he honored the request.

“My personal experience is that the courts are somewhat inconsistent,” Eriksen said. “I’ve found some judges inclined to err on the side of caution, while others seem inclined to err, if they err at all, on the side of the First Amendment.”

Weekend anchorwoman Monica Gayle, who never quite managed to crack into the “A” team at Channel 39, is moving to the big time. She has been tabbed by CBS News to anchor a new overnight newscast. Rory Devine has been named to replace her on the weekends. . . .

Jack Merker is out as executive producer of the “Ross/Hedgecock Report.” A station memo says he resigned. Steve Corman, the producer of “Third Thursday,” will take over the show until a permanent replacement is found. . . .

Now that we have all pounded our chests lamenting the passing of the late, great rock power KGB-FM (101.5), it is worth noting that the station is at least making good on its promise to play “rock ‘n’ roll classics that really rock ‘n’ roll,” featuring harder-edged tunes than in the recent past, even if it means they religiously avoid most new rock. . . .

In a rare personal memo to employees, San Diego Union-Tribune Publisher Helen Copley vigorously denied persistent rumors that she intends to sell the paper. “I am astounded by the rumors,” she wrote in the memo, which is addressed “Dear Colleague.” “We can all be proud of our newspaper and working together we can make it the best newspaper in the country.” . . .

The Landmark Theater chain was officially taken over by the Samuel Goldwyn Co. late last year, and it has finally gotten around to changing its name. Starting next week, the company that runs the Hillcrest Cinemas--the Ken, Cove, Guild and Park--will be known as Samuel Goldwyn Theaters.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

‘TO SLEEP WITH ANGER’ SCREENING AT SDSU

Charles Burnett’s “To Sleep With Anger” is the type of film that far too often falls between the numerous cracks in the Hollywood film structure. Despite the presence of a Name--specifically, Danny Glover, still aglow from the box-office success of “Lethal Weapon”--the 1990 “To Sleep With Anger” received little of the attention it much deserved.

Far too often referred to as a “small story,” it is the tale of an apparently close and traditional middle-class black family in modern south Los Angeles. But not is all as it seems, which is apparent when a boyhood friend from the superstitious sharecropper South (Glover) comes to visit and stirs things up.

As part of a series of lectures and films by African-American filmmakers presented by the San Diego State University telecommunications and film department, “To Sleep With Anger” will be screened tonight, and Burnett will be on hand to discuss his work beginning at 6 p.m. in SDSU’s Hepner Hall’s Little Theater.

The series continues Friday, at the same time and place, with a screening of the controversial “Tongues Untied,” which is now featured in presidential-hopeful Patrick J. Buchanan’s campaign commercial. Filmmaker Marlon Riggs will discuss the film, which explores the black gay community, and the swirl of discourse that has followed it.