Broadcasting civil proceedings: the impact of social media in the Depp v. Heard case

The main subjects of this thesis are centred on the discipline of U.S. civil proceedings, that is the legal field whose aim is to resolve disputes between private parties, and on the libel case of Depp v. Heard, a 2022 civil proceeding based on the allegations of defamation brought by claimant John C. Depp, II, vis-à-vis his previous wife, Amber Laura Heard. To be more specific, the study of these topics is essential to understand the interplay each one has exercised over the other, and to understand the reasons behind the controversial nature of the case itself. The purpose of the project is then to define those rules and aspects of civil procedure that have had a major impact in the unfolding of trial and its resolution: notably, how the use of public broadcasting had been at the centre of the evolution of the case and the impact it may have had on its resolution and subsequent perception of the parties by the public opinion. In other words, then, the aim of this dissertation is the discovery of hypothetical connections between the public streaming of the trial’s hearings and the shaping of the public and of the jury opinion in issuing a verdict.