Homolka-Teale Trial Publicity
- Artist/Author/Producer: All Canadian Media
- Confronting Bodies: Ontario Judicial System
- Dates of action: 1993+
- Location: Canada
- Description of the Art Work
- Any published or broadcast reports of the details of the case against
Karla Homolka and her ex-husband Paul Teale, who are accused of at least
two counts of kidnapping, sexual assaul,t and murder in a case that
grabbed headlines world-wide.
- Description of incident
- Karla Homolka was sentenced to twelve years in prison for these crimes in
July 1993. Her husband is now on trial for a number of crimes including
multiple murder. The judge in the case, Justice Francis Kovacs, has
imposed a gag order on the press against revealing any of the details of
the case or discussing it in any way other than referential. He imposed
this order to allow the accused a "fair trial." In November/December
1993, American journalists defied the gag order and some major sources
broadcast the information including The Washington Post, Newsweek, and the
television program, "A Current Affair."
Canadians were able to cross the border to purchase copies of the
publications, though roadblocks were set up at key border crossing sites
to confiscate copies if the possessor had more than one. Many Canadians
were able to receive satellite broadcasts of the television accounts of
the case (80% of Canadians live within 200 miles of the US border).
Users of the Internet were widely distributing these reports and other
accounts of the case across Canada and around the world. Many Internet
systems administrators at Canadian universities and institutions were
denying access to areas of the Internet which discussed the case by
taking the information off of their systems.
- Results of incident
- The gag order will remain in effect for Canada until the close of the
trial of Paul Teale. Several Canadian media sources have appealed the
judge's order. As a result of the gag order, an inordinate amount of
attention has been focused on the case and there are few Canadians who do
not know the details of the case.
Source: Newsweek, Washington Post, Internet users