Monday, August 01, 2011

Judicial committee to consider internet use by juries and live tweeting of trials

According to Kieron Wood in the Sunday Business Post Mr Justice John Murray is to chair a committee to consider the contempt risks posed by jurors' use of the internet and social media, and which may also consider the issues associated with courtroom reporting via twitter or liveblogging. There doesn't seem to be anything on the Courts Service website about this yet, but hopefully the committee will follow the UK practice by holding a full public consultation and (if there is a need for urgent action) issuing interim guidance only in the meantime. Given the importance of the constitutional guarantee of open justice it would be wrong to make any final decision without giving those affected the opportunity to be heard.

Kieron Wood also writes about the wider problems the internet poses for the justice system in a longer piece in the Business of Law supplement.

No comments:

Post a Comment