Meredith Kercher and her family are the only real victims in this trial and its media storm...

The Kercher trial is a sickening example of how the media can distort and misrepresent, revealing just how victims often take a back seat in coverage.

Today as Sian Williams sat on the BBC Breakfast sofa and stated that some had called the trial of Amanda Knox a “media circus”, she quickly jumped on the tightrope herself and immediately invited two guests to discuss the case as if it had been held in some kangaroo court led by the whims of a dictator in a land far away, not a European court with a legal system far older than our own.

The Kerchers themselves told how, “Meredith has been almost forgotten in all this. It's very difficult to keep her memory alive in all this.” And you’d be forgiven for agreeing if you’d followed the media reaction with Knox’s tears and smiles all over the front pages and TV news headlines. Against the might of the Knox’s PR machine, the true victim had no hope of making the front page. Remember in her own country, if convicted, Knox may already be dead. If she was black. Or poor. The blindness of many Americans continues to terrify.

Throughout this trial I’ve found myself shouting at the TV: 

Can we remember the actual victim please? Meredith Kercher. Her family have been so dignified and reserved, is it possible we can act similarly? Perhaps justice has been done for Knox but what about the Kerchers? Surely they should be our sole concern, Amanda Knox may be innocent of murder but she lied and cost the investigation valuable time and labelled an innocent man, a killer. She is not a wholly innocent party.

Whilst misconstruing the verdict on Monday night, the Daily Mail decided to publish their reaction and, in doing so, gave a horrifying example of how they invent entire stories and quotes. They even invented the reaction of the Kercher family; on what planet they think this is acceptable I am not quite sure.

I should point out that although writing certain articles such as obituaries is common place and allows the media to respond with news, but speculating on the reaction of a murdered 21 year-old’s family is surely unimaginably disgusting. Given the furore over Johann Hari’s indiscretions perhaps right-wing media-lovers may wish to question their own sources (although we all know they won’t, that’s the problem with the Mail).

However, things reached a sickening nadir today when The Wright Stuff decided to ask “Foxy Knoxy: Would Ya?” with the Channel 5 website asking:

So Amanda Knox has been cleared of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. She’s entirely innocent. She’s also undeniably fit and loves wild sex. Or did.

So if you were a guy who’d met her in a bar and she invited you back to hers, would you go? I’m being quite serious. Or would something in your brain make you think twice?

No something in my brain thinks this may just be one of the most sickening things I’ve ever read or heard. Why would anyone think to debate this? Surely a more worthy topic for a phone-in show would be “did the Knox PR machine result in her acquittal?” Not, would you fuck her against some bins because it turns out she’s had a conviction for murder squashed? I mean are they serious?

Which brings me way off topic, because what I wanted to do is shift the focus back to the Kerchers however impossible it is to imagine the hell they continue to suffer. I just can’t understand it and neither apparently can the British public which is why stories like the Mail’s will go unpunished and without apology and Knox’s face will continue to sell papers. The Kerchers did not cheer and smile when Knox and co were convicted, they accepted it with a grace no one else has shown in the whole case, from the accused, their families, the media right through to the prosecutors.

Let us be in no doubt that in focussing on Knox we represent the worst of Western culture, its justice system and media. The only victims here are Meredith Kercher and her family. Their quiet, reserved response in the face of this horror has been an example we should all learn from, but the sad reality is we won’t. In the meantime perhaps we could simply show the family the respect they entirely deserve by keeping Meredith and the search for the truth at the centre of any coverage...