Abstract:This study focusses on how the media portrays barristers' comments in rape trials. It examines shifts in reporting since the Second World War. The importance of the contributions of the prosecuting counsel is noted. In fact, it is not simply assumptions of the defence taken up by the media which sustain sexist attitudes but on occasions the prosecuting counsel can also be seen as colluding. This has legal and media implications. It not only questions assumptions concerning the adversarial legal systems but also it is argued that an implicit consensus is reflected by unified ‘real‐life’ accounts of the rape