Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nebraska Suppressed: How Gagging The News Media Intensified Pretrial Press Coverage Of The Simants’ Murder Case, Nancy Whitmore

Nancy J. Whitmore

Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart(n1) began with the issuance of a court order that prohibited the publication of testimony and evidence presented at a preliminary hearing of a suspected mass murderer. With this judicial action, a press-bar contest ensued that hamstrung the media's reporting capabilities as it struggled for seventy-nine days under four gag orders to cover one of the most brutal murders in Nebraska history. Throughout the controversy, the Nebraska press chose to comply with the restrictive orders; and this article examines the effects of that choice. Specifically, it explores how the Nebraska press functional under the various restrictive …