The OJ Simpson trial attracted a massive media circus and changed the nature of modern news coverage
THE ANGELS — OJ Simpson’s death on Thursday not only resurrects memories of one of the most famous trials of the 20th century, but also highlights the impact the case had on modern media coverage.
His trial lasted nine months, from 1994 to 1995, and attracted more than 2,500 journalists to the downtown Los Angeles courthouse. Completely new pool coverage facilities had to be built at the courthouse and in the then-closed Hall of Justice building across the street to handle overall coverage.
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“We literally laid hundreds of miles of cables,” said Scott Shulman, who served as a television engineering consultant for the Radio and Television News Directors Association during the test, responsible for building and managing what was dubbed Camp OJ. “From a journalistic point of view, there was nothing like it and I don’t think there will be anything like it again.”
Shulman, who attended the trial every day, witnessed the circus atmosphere that was created with countless millions of eyes watching the courtroom on a global scale. Although he believes full coverage of the trial was necessary, he says it has become something that most lawyers and judges despise.
“I think that’s probably OJ’s lasting legacy: that no one wants to participate in something like this again,” Shulman told our sister station ABC7 in Los Angeles.
But putting the trial on stage for the world may have saved Los Angeles from the deadly chaos it experienced just two years ago. The riots surrounding the Rodney King trial had left racial tensions at an easily inflammable level.
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And little was left unshown, even from the moment of the persecution. As the world watched, the white Ford Bronco with Simpson in it was driving north on the 5 Freeway, then reporter Ric Romero and his photographer were right behind him.
Romero was the first reporter to find Simpson on the freeway, after searching for him in the Orange County cemetery where his ex-wife was buried. He believes the live, unscripted ordeal was a precursor to reality television and what is now a staple of local news in Los Angeles.
