Overuse of the legal perspective by media, particularly television, can skew coverage of stories in critical ways. The law was never the issue in the Simpson trial, race was. And perjury isn't really the issue in the Lewinsky scandal - politics and values are. Inherently combative, lawyers talk in terms of legal precedent, strategy, and gamesmanship. They're hardly in the best position to provide intelligent socio-cultural or political analysis, as we saw nightly during the Lewinsky drama.
Journalists are in the best position to provide fact and perspective.
Lawyers could use a code of ethics, but so could the journalists who cede coverage of major stories to them. I trust Greta, though. She speaks truth to power, punctures hypocrisy, and relishes evenhanded justice. She is the ideal model for lawyer-commentators to emulate. . . . . Wired Digital Inc., a Lycos Network site.