I think you are bang on with your adherence to the legal principle “innocent until proven guilty”. However there is some nuance here that is missed in this context. Presumption of innocence is crucial because in instances of getting it wrong in cases of sexual violence (which can and do include the death of the victim sometimes), would mean a loss of liberty for the accused. So absolutely it should meet the legal bar of beyond reasonable doubt to convict someone.
However nobody is advocating throwing the accused in jail without trial, and no “trial by media” as distasteful as they may be carries with them a prison sentence nor a death penalty. However given the nature of crimes such as these in how difficult they are to prosecute, as it essentially boils down to a he said/she said argument can be impossible to prove past bar of required evidence.
Consider if you will the sister to the criminal courts: the civil courts. Now in a civil trial the presumption of innocence is still there, BUT and this is crucial, the standard of proof is on the balance of probabilities. Rape and sexual assault unfortunately exists in a difficult space. It absolutely is serious enough to warrant custodial sentences, but that given that the burden of proof is so high to reflect the potential sentences that can be handed down many rapists walk scott free.
Clearly this state of affairs is untenable as this makes rapes in an overwhelming number of instances de facto legal even if de jure it is illegal. So where do we go from here? I like you find trials by media or in the court of public opinion often inaccurate, distasteful and often politically motivated.
What I propose to address it is this: we pass a law enabling victims of rape and sexual assault free legal aid to pursue the perpetrators through the civil courts. This would achieve a number of things that are currently not happening: More perpetrators would be found at the very least culpable in a legal context, with the very richly deserved loss of reputation. It would have the knock on effect of changing the cultural conversation and attitudes towards rape as more women would be believed. It might over time act as a deterrent to the more savvy and manipulative predators. We may need to tighten up regulations surrounding Non Disclosure Agreements. So in cases where it is settled out of court it couldn’t be legally enforceable in instances of alleged sexual misconduct should victims decide to disclose any details of any settlements.
I have served on a Jury myself, and it was my nightmare scenario to be faced with a rape/sexual assault trial where I found the victim to be credible and likely their accusation true, but there simply not be enough evidence to vote guilty. Thankfully I was not faced with such a case, but it did give me pause to consider how we badly need to have this most serious of crimes carry some sort of consequence, and what I posted above is the best I could come up with.