The Cential Paik Five; The Police Pounceu on

the Boys, The Neuia Pounceu on Theii Stoiy

Piocess Papei
Baiiis Wekselblatt, }aieu Rothstein, Seungmin Yi, anu
Bonna Nazaiian
uioup Website
Senioi Bivision










In talking to a teachei in oui school's social stuuies uepaitment,
one of oui gioup membeis was intiouuceu to The Cential Paik }oggei
Case, was fascinateu by the miscaiiiage of justice anu by the meuia's
iole in the case, anu ueciueu to wiite a ieseaich papei on the case. Aftei
all membeis of the gioup ieau the papei, the histoiical significance of
this case, in iegaius to police pioceuuie anu meuia ethics, hau
compelleu us to cieate oui pioject ievolving aiounu the case.
0nce we ueteimineu the topic foi oui pioject, we uelveu into all
available iesouices to finu infoimation we coulu analyze. The fiist way
in which we conuucteu oui ieseaich was by ieauing the book The
Cential Paik Five, wiitten by Saiah Buins. This was one of oui most
useful iesouices. Seaiching foi scholaily aiticles anu oiiginal meuia
aiticles in vaiious uatabases was also vital to the fiuition of oui pioject.
We then seaicheu newspapei aichives incluuing !"# %&'( )*+,- !"#.
anu /0" !"# %&'( /+1". foi moie aiticles publisheu soon aftei the iape
on Apiil 19, 1989. Lastly, we ieseaicheu expeits of this case as well as
expeits of the laws at that came into question with this case, anu
contacteu expeits foi infoimation iegaiuing theii iespectful aieas of
expeitise. We hau manageu to set up vaiious inteiviews this way.
When uebating the categoiy foi which we woulu cieate oui
pioject, theie weie vaiious ieasons that leu to the cieation of a website.
Fiist of all, the case is iathei emotional, anu we wanteu some of that
emotion to be piesent in oui pioject. Fuitheimoie, we wanteu to
piesent oui view on the case anu the meuia's involvement in a cleai anu
inteiactive way. In oiuei to cieate such a pioject, website was the best
categoiy. 0ne we hau ueciueu to cieate a website, we immeuiately got
to woik builuing the site. We fiist outlineu the site to ensuie that it
woulu be oiganizeu anu easily navigable. We then implementeu oui
ieseaich anu analysis into oui inteiconnecteu pages. Finally, we
incoipoiateu inteiview clips anu inteiactive components such as piezi
piesentations to complete founuation foi the site. Lastly, we auueu
music anu moie quotes to enhance the site.
The website poitiays oui analysis of not just the legal case, but of
the meuia's involvement in the case anu police pioceuuies useu to elicit
confessions. We cleaily showeu the ways in which the meuia faileu to
iepoit iesponsibly. The meuia is ethically iesponsible to seek anu
iepoit the tiuth, to not misleau the public, anu to not steieotype. In the
case of the Cential Paik }oggei, all of the above iesponsibilities weie not
met. Fuitheimoie, the website exploies the iights of "The Cential Paik
Five" anu the ways in which those iights weie violateu.