--- title: How the O.J. Simpson Verdict Changed the Way We All Watch TV description: The verdict was delivered on Oct. 3, 1995 canonical: https://time.com/4059067/oj-simpson-verdict/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-02T21:27:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:28:11.188Z article:section: History og:title: How the O.J. Simpson Verdict Changed the Way We All Watch TV og:description: It's been 20 years since 57% of the country watched the verdict og:url: https://time.com/4059067/oj-simpson-verdict/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22fbca257bf24346/698866b3bc6cfc78733d9bbf/1101951016_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Oct. 16, 1995 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the O.J. Simpson Verdict Changed the Way We All Watch TV twitter:description: It's been 20 years since 57% of the country watched the verdict twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22fbca257bf24346/698866b3bc6cfc78733d9bbf/1101951016_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the O.J. Simpson Verdict Changed the Way We All Watch TV  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 2, 2015 9:27 PM UTC  The Oct. 16, 1995, cover of TIME The Oct. 16, 1995, cover of TIMECover Credit: MYUNG J. CHUN  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Oct 2, 2015 9:27 PM UTC It’s been 20 years since more than 150 million viewers — [57%](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983586,00.html) of the country — tuned in to watch the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial at 10 a.m. on Oct. 3, 1995\. The massive viewership of the verdict’s live broadcast was a fitting end to the saga that had captivated the entire nation since the infamous white Bronco chase of the previous June, and its legacy in the media still lasts today. Football star Simpson had been on trial for the double-murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. On the day of the verdict, jury deliberations only took four hours, far less than the nation expected after months of proceedings. TIME reporters and editors, caught slightly off-guard, scrambled to send reinforcements to Los Angeles for plenty of on-the-ground reporting. Planes crammed with journalists departed from across of the country, all headed to LAX. (One TIME correspondent [named](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,983574,00.html) hers “the O.J. Express.”) The issue that resulted from that resulted from that reporting featured a cover image of Simpson smiling in court behind the words “We, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder…” The story inside included [a retelling](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,983569-10,00.html) of the verdict that might have been familiar to many Americans, though the players were different. Like their millions of fellow citizens, a group including officers, prosecutors and friends gathered around a television in the court building to watch what would happen: --- > “” --- And it wasn’t just viewership numbers that made the image of interested observers crowding around a television set an appropriate one. The world had followed every turn of the case so closely that the trial would permanently change the news cycle and media patterns. Americans had never been so consumed by a single news story. They were forgoing scripted television dramas and soap operas to watch months of trial developments, _Entertainment Weekly_ reported on Oct. 13, 1995\. Magazines and newspapers like TIME profiled the officers, attorneys and surrounding figures in the trial, who eventually took on a celebrity level of fame. Court TV and CNN [covered](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/how-the-oj-simpson-murder-trial-20-years-ago-changed-the-media-landscape/2014/06/09/a6e21df8-eccf-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e%5Fstory.html) every aspect of the trial — an unprecedented standard for the 16 months of legal developments — and people followed along. The trial, culminating in the verdict’s broadcast from within the courtroom, created some of the most intense early demand for the current 24-hour news cycle and sowed the seeds for the reality television boom to follow. (And no one at the time could have guessed how much impact the fame of one of those in-court celebrities, Robert Kardashian, would have on entertainment.) But, while so many Americans were watching the same announcement on TV, not everyone saw the same thing. The debate about race in America that had taken hold of national conversation during the trial was only intensified by the verdict. (TIME itself drew criticism when the magazine darkened Simpson’s mugshot during the cover design process for the issue directly after the car chase. “I have looked at thousands of covers over the years and chosen hundreds,” managing editor James R. Gaines [wrote](http://time.com/vault/issue/1994-07-04/page/6/) in the following issue. “I have never been so wrong about how one would be received.”) After the trial was over, the nation seemed to [split along racial lines](http://time.com/vault/issue/2003-03-31/page/153/). Many thought this was an example of another black man who had been unfairly prosecuted, while others faulted the predominantly black jury for letting him off. TIME had examined the escalating racial rhetoric used in the courtroom and media during the trial with a [cover](http://time.com/vault/issue/1995-10-09/page/1/) emblazoned with the question, “O.J. and Race: Will the verdict split America?” The magazine [answered its own question](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,983568,00.html) the week following the verdict: --- > “” --- **_Read the TIME special report from 1995, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Making the Case](http://time.com/vault/issue/1995-10-16/page/1/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4059067/oj-simpson-verdict/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4059067/oj-simpson-verdict/"},"headline":"How the O.J. 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