Through The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby built up a huge following and influence. He was one of the most popular actors and had an enormous amount of public goodwill. When the allegations of rape first surfaced, it was brushed off and received very little coverage in mainstream media. It was only when the accusations began to multiply in number that it began to receive widespread coverage in the news.

When publishing articles about incidents such as Bill Cosby’, news organizations must strive to stay as objective about the situation as possible. In many sexual assault and rape cases, it comes down to the reliability of the testimonies provided by the victims versus those of the accused.  In Cosby’s case, many of the accusations are from many years ago. The alleged victims’ claims must be viewed in a objective way and balanced with the available facts. News organizations face many challenges in personal cases like Cosby’s. They cannot allow Cosby’s fame to influence and shape the case.  Media coverage has a great amount of influence on how the public views cases and it should not be something that is taken lightly. It is easy to be one sided and provide a single biased perspective, but it is the duty of  news organizations to provide a balanced, unbiased account of the facts.