Can Justice Fight Back?

The global public loves to read about savage slayings. The tragic death of the innocent may help sell newspapers but manhunts, police chases, arrests and then the judicial process is of enormous and legitimate interest to the public. Death is not local news: as can be seen by the enormous and worldwide media coverage of cases such as O.J. Simpson, Mark Bridger (jailed for life for the murder of April Jones) Stuart Hazell (a minimum of 38 years in prison for the murder of his partner's granddaughter 12-year-old Tia Sharp) and the ongoing Oscar Pistorius case in South Africa.

In the digital age worldwide publicity stretches the protections meant to be afforded to defendants to have a fair trial to the limit. And foreign publishers discussing cases in other jurisdictions need to be alert as they are likely to have assets (such as a news bureau) that could be reached and seized by a prosecutor (or Attorney General) if they overstep the mark.

Oscar Pistorius was in court recently charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Such serious cases are dealt with in the High Court in South Africa but not before a jury but (usually) a single judge and two lay assessors (often legal experts such as advocates, academics or retired magistrates who assist the judge in answering questions of fact (not law)). So it may have been thought by the world's media that despite the intense coverage of the case the absence of the jury system meant that anything was acceptable. There has been no shortage of speculation, background information, rumours and even interviews with potential witnesses. But in June the South African magistrate warned against "trial by media" and lambasted the media for threatening the "sanctity" of South African courts. Magistrate Daniel Thulare criticised the media, including those overseas, for threatening the "fountains of justice" and warned of the risk of contempt of court. But he also raised the issue of scandalising the court system in the Republic. He invited the National prosecuting authority to "seriously look" at the coverage.

It is not necessarily the most dramatic publications that can cause the most damage to the defence case or the prosecution case (both must be protected to allow for a fair trial). Sky News obtained images of the bathroom where Reeva Steenkamp was fatally shot, distressing pictures showing a trail of blood and bullet holes in the now opened door. There have already been criticisms of the South...

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