Lorraine Pace
It should have been a media coup. A case that has grabbed print headlines internationally and been beamed to television screens worldwide was due to set a Web precedent last Monday.
But a minute before the decision was to be issued, the Web service provider had a power failure.
Ironically, this resulted in the ruling being distributed in the old fashioned way – on paper.
The world had been watching the Web for the decision by Judge Hiller Zobel on Louise Woodward, the 19-year-old English au pair convicted of shaking to death 9-month-old Matthew Eappen. Because of the intense international interest in the case – particularly in the United States where the child died, and in Woodward’s native Britain where many believe she is innocent – Zobel was to have posted his decision on a website operated by the newspaper Lawyer’s Weekly simultaneously with his judgment being delivered in court.
“It’s a question of timing,” says Michael Silber, professional assistant at Johannesburg-based law firm Werksmans. “No one had thought of it with OJSimpson. Many judgments are posted on the Net, particularly those of the Constitutional Court, but usually with hours of delay. This step by Judge Zobel is just a gimmick based on the public’s interest.”
Woodward was freed as she had already served her final sentence in prison but remains a convicted felon. She continues to protest her innocence.
The Web is threaded with a multiplicity of discussion forums, message boards, campaigns and petitions about the case. Had all run smoothly, Zobel would have helped the Web fully enter the news age.
And in a long-awaited release from the Audit Bureau of Internet Standards, the most popular Web sites have been named.
These are iAfrica.com, Ananzi, eM&G, M-Web, Naspers, Business Day, Financial Mail, Business Times, Halycon Intertainment, Car Today, IT Web and Net Assets.
The survey comprised sites that are members of the bureau and three sets of figures were combined to provide a complete reference to advertisers about website traffic.
Like other ABC circulation standards, which are used by magazines and newspapers, the Internet measurement standards aim to be representative across the advertising and media industries.