THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Court TV Head Praises Job by Ito : Trial: Steven Brill says the jurist is being held to ‘an impossible standard’ and has performed well. But he criticizes E! Entertainment’s coverage.

Judge Lance A. Ito, who has come under criticism for his handling of the O.J. Simpson murder case, has “gotten a bum rap” and is actually doing a fine job, Court TV founder and President Steven Brill said Wednesday.

In a luncheon address to the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Brill said Ito has been held to “an impossible standard,” largely because of the extensive media coverage of the trial. Although he said he believed Ito was too easy on the trial’s attorneys in the early stages, Brill said the judge has gotten control of the proceedings.

“Let’s remember that Judge Ito is the person in charge of the action in the longest-running live television event in history,” Brill said. “Imagine yourself being called on to make dozens of decisions, many of them spontaneous and just as highly complicated, every day for months before a live audience.”

Brill’s support of Ito comes at a time when many observers are saying that the judge is doggedly trying to get the trial back on track. Ito allowed Court TV to have cameras in the courtroom, and the network has been airing nonstop coverage of the trial. In addition, Ito last week banned a Court TV reporter from the courtroom for talking too loudly, a move that Brill said he accepted.

Although Brill had kind words for Ito, he criticized the chairman of the ACLU Foundation, Lee Masters, who is the head of E! Entertainment Television.

Brill blasted E!’s gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Simpson trial, which is being anchored by former network newswoman Kathleen Sullivan. He said it was inappropriate for the cable network to broadcast the case, saying it trivialized the proceedings.

“I hope Lee Masters would think twice the next time before he allows something calling itself the Entertainment Network to televise gavel to gavel a double murder trial,” Brill said.

He added that he would like to ask Masters “why it doesn’t further coarsen society and cheapen tragic events when a channel that calls itself the Entertainment Network carries a double murder trial, anchored by a diet food pitchwoman and complete with gossip reports and commentary from hairstylists and a dog psychologist. It’s not illegal and shouldn’t be. It’s just wrong.”

Reacting to Brill’s comments, Masters said: “This luncheon is what free speech is all about.” He denied that E!’s coverage has become a sideshow.

“This is a Hollywood story, and we cover Hollywood. We are not making this a sideshow. Many of the lawyers on the podium today have been on our show, and they would not have appeared if it were a sideshow.”