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- Geraldine Hughes -

tion of child molestation charges against Michael Jackson and
that the public interest and attention were riveted on the alle-
gations. It also stated that Michael Jackson and the public in-
vestigator took advantage of the media to issue numerous state-
ments to the public and that now, because he didn't want nega-
tive publicity, he sought a blanket closure order. It requested
that the Court deny Michael Jackson's motion and permit the
public access to information about this matter which was of
great public interest.
It contended even further that gag orders are granted only
for good cause and none has been shown in this case. It also
stated that Mr. Cochran's contentions regarding the
defendant's right to a fair trial were harmed by pretrial pub-
licity, invasion of privacy, and that Mr. Cochran's position
concerning third party witnesses being in danger and hounded
and government taking advantage of civil information in crimi-
nal proceedings was baseless. In essence, the Times Mirror said
that Michael Jackson's attorneys had not shown good cause to
assert First Amendment concerns. The U.S. Supreme Court
recognized that pretrial protective orders are subject to scru-
tiny under the First Amendment, and must be made within
Rule 26(c) which requires a showing of good faith. It also stated
that there is a presumptive right to discovery materials. Pub-
lic Citizen v. Leggett, supra.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) states: Upon a mo-
tion by the party or by the person from whom discovery is
being sought, for good cause, may make any order which jus-
tice requires to protect a party from annoyance, embarrass-
ment, oppression, or undue burden or expense. The Times
Mirror disagreed with Mr. Cochran's statement that publicity
would prevent Michael Jackson from receiving a fair trial.
The Times Mirror continued by stating that there are
2,900,000 possible jurors in Los Angeles County which are
pulled from the records of the Department of Motor Vehicle's
database. A protective order, in its opinion, would keep reli-
able information from the public while allowing unreliable
information to be reported, and that Michael Jackson did not

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