Newsroom cuts hamper the wrongfully accused

This NYT article is spooky in both the drop in journalists investigating death row cases, and in some lawyers' dependence on the media.

Now, the lawyers complain, they have to do more of the work themselves and that means it often doesn’t get done.

[Barry Scheck, co-founder of New York's Innocence Project]: "When procedural mechanisms begin to fail, the press is the last resort for the public to find out the truth."

In the past, critics including Supreme Court justices have stressed the importance of media not fulfilling government functions, e.g. the Houchins v. KQED decision:

The media are not a substitute for or an adjunct of government and, like the courts, they are "ill equipped" to deal with problems of prison administration ... We must not confuse the role of the media with that of government; each has special, crucial functions, each complementing - and sometimes conflicting with - the other.

But is that the case here? Is the fact that some legal professionals have come to expect help from the media worrisome for the legitimacy of the judicial system, the media, or both?

I've often thought about how J-Schoolers could work with UW Law students through a program similar to The Innocence Project. Perhaps by collaborating with budding lawyers, budding journalists will find their way back to the investigative fold, but more on that later.