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Last 7 Days

Top Blogs

• Aaron Kanter knocked out of poker series, finishes fourth

• Lodi player's poker skills earn him knickname 'Knockout' Kanter

• Lodian dies in a single-vehicle crash

• Will Lodi ease sewage costs for Flag City?

• Lodi City Council to discuss water rate increases

• County hires new top assistant administrator

• Regional Roundup

• Supervisors to discuss audit of trust fund

• Autonomy for supervisors, higher pay for aides

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (73)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (60)
• Universal health care solves big problems (54)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
• Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (35)
• Words from our forefathers (27)
• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (24)
• Majority cannot deprive the minority (23)

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Media convict before guilt is established

Article 11 Section 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights adopted by United Nations in 1948 states: "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense."

Although the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" has been firmly embedded in English jurisprudence since the advent of the modern journalism, this idiom has been put to a severe test.

On one hand, journalists claim the people's right to know to be paramount -- on the other they publish or air allegations that the readers and listeners come to assume to be true without trial or conviction.

The justice system is slow and expensive, and in the meantime people's lives are either put on hold or severely disrupted. Even if they are later found to be innocent, they are tried and convicted in the court of public opinion and their lives are ruined.

It is sickening to see that, in this civilized society, anyone can be sentenced to such a punishment without due process of law.

In the last few weeks, Lodi has been in the news nationally and internationally. The people who have been arrested have been accused of lying to the FBI or immigration violations.

None of them has been tried or convicted. Punishment for conviction of lying to FBI, I am told, is about eight months in prison and conviction of immigration violation is generally deportation. They seem to be minor crimes.

In the press, they have been portrayed to be national security issues and tremendously hyped up.

Two of the accused were indicted by the grand jury. But in the legal circles it is widely known that a good prosecutor can easily indict a "ham sandwich."

The FBI is claiming that they have been working on this case for the past three years and the people who have been arrested have been in jail for more than five weeks until now and no serious charges have emerged.

Yet it is apparent that every news media has capitalized on these events and convicted and condemned for life the people arrested by the FBI or Homeland Security.

I receive about a dozen calls each day from the news media to help them with their stories. Some of the newspapers have two or three teams, unbeknown to each other, working on different angles of the story, stationed in Lodi.

The TV journalists in general are looking for sound bites or fill few seconds of the time that the producer may have assigned to them.

The print media is looking for all the details that they can use to fill the newspaper or magazine columns with.

None of these people I have met are looking to report the comprehensive story that will provide the truth to the public.

Every one of the journalist has a skewed angle that he or she is interested in. The truth does not matter.

All the journalists that I came across this ordeal are very nice, gentle people. They are highly intelligent and most of them are quite knowledgeable about the current affairs.

Every so often I come across someone whose mind is as blank as a white sheet of paper. They may have been sent to Lodi by their editor to fill air time or space in the columns of the newspaper and they have no idea what the story is and what they are going to report.

Others are quite smart and they already have the idea of what they want and they want you say things that, although may be untrue, will make juicy news.

The stress that the Muslim community in Lodi has gone through in the past few weeks is immense.

The Muslim community in general felt confident that it has not done anything wrong.

It was not the fear of FBI or other law enforcement agencies, arrest or conviction, but the tarnishing of the reputation in the press that caused significant unease.

The outpouring of support from the community has helped immensely. Our neighbors and friends have called and wrote to show their support and their sympathy has helped cope with this stressful situation.

Lodi, after all is good place to live.

Taj Khan of Lodi is a consultant and retired engineering manager for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.