How can the judiciary and the media collaborate to ensure a functional society where law and order are respected?
The need to balance the interests of both institutions for society’s good and reduce chances of friction between them formed the focus of a training workshop in Abuja on June 1.
It was for journalists who cover court proceedings and lawyers who are media practitioners.
The theme was: Reporting court proceedings by the media: Uses and Abuses. It was organised by the Law, Media and Social Justice Development Initiative (LMSJDI).
Speakers included Chief Judge of the FCT, Justice Ishaq Bello, President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Waheed Odusile, President of LMSJDI Charles Odenigbo, a professor of law at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Paul Idornigie (SAN), Editor, Daily Sun newspaper, Onuoha Ukeh, and the Executive Director, All Children Charity International Foundation (ACCIF), Mrs. Ranti Daudu.
They identified areas of conflict between both institutions and advocated mutual understanding between them.
Odenigbo noted that there was a very low public understanding of the judiciary’s operations, which accounts for why many do not “understand how courts arrive at their judgments, punish offenders or even award damages, grant bail or deny bail.”
He added that “there is no bad judge or bad lawyer in Nigeria. Our judges and lawyers are doing their legitimate jobs in the best way that they can conduct themselves”.
Justice Bello expressed discomfort about the wrong portrayal of judicial officers and the operations of the Judiciary in the media. Citing an example of a critical report by an on-line medium about a judge of the High Court of the FCT, Justice Bello said it was unfair for media houses to castigate judicial officers, without making effort to understand how the Judiciary operates.
He called for cooperation and understanding between the media and the Judiciary, noting that “we are members of the same family and must work to keep the family together.”
Idonigie, who acknowledged the constitutional responsibility of the media to cover court’s proceedings and other judicial activities, under the common law principle of “open court,” however advocated for moderation on the part of the journalists.
“As is often said of legal rights, no right is absolute. Indeed to every right, there is a corresponding duty. In any case, the right that enures to the press to inform, educate and entertain carries with it the duty not to defame and infringe copyright laws nor commit contempt of court.
“Similarly, open court comes at a cost as it exists in tension with two other rights – privacy and security. The challenge we have is how to balance the rights of the media to inform, educate and entertain with their duty to observe constitutional and statutory provisions as they relate to the rights of others especially the judicial officers,” Idornigie said.
To allow for effective performance of their responsibility, as it relates to court reporting, Idornigie advocated continuous training for court reporters. If it were possible, the Law Professor said he would have prefer where only lawyers are engaged by media houses to report courts.
Odusile argued that the problem of media misrepresentation of judicial proceedings was mainly as a result of the Judiciary’s inability to understand media operations. He noted that instances where the Judiciary prefer to hide information about its activities from the media gives room for speculation.
He faulted the claim that journalists subject suspects to media trial. He argued that the media do not on their own pick on individual and decide to subject such a person to trial. The media, he said reports what the society presents.
“I have always said that we, as journalists, do not create events. We report events. All this noise about media trial lacks basis. It is not our fault that investigating agencies decide to make case files about on-going cases available to journalists. What we trade in and sell is information. So, you do not blame us if they are made available to us,” Odusile said.
While Onuoha stressed the need for journalists to always be guided by professional ethics, Mrs Daudu dwelt on the for improved media access to information to enhance citizens’ awareness of their guaranteed rights, mechanisms for redress and ways to hold their governments accountable.