Framing An Execution: The Media & Mumia Abu-Jamal (2001)

The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist on Pennsylvania's death row in connection with the death of a police officer, had become by the late 1990s a global symbol of inequities in the U.S. judicial system. The mainstream media could no longer ignore it, but how would they cover such a hotly disputed case and the questions of judicial bias that it raises?

ABC, on its newsmagazine show "20/20," set the journalistic tone for how to cover this controversial story in a special report, "Hollywood's Unlikely Hero." While characterizing the defense as "passionate" and uninformed, ABC star reporter Sam Donaldson claimed to provide the "facts" based on ABC's "four-month investigation of the case."

Framing an Execution examines how Donaldson's framing of the case stands up to the available facts and how it measures up to basic journalistic standards of fairness, balance, and accuracy. This video offers some answers, but also raises disturbing questions about media and judicial ethics.