[Greens-Media] MR: Opening court proceedings for better understanding

[David Shoebridge]

25 March 2014

Media Release



Opening court proceedings for better understanding



Proposals to further open court rooms to the media including the broadcasting of sentencing proceedings, is an opportunity to provide greater public understanding of the legal system and the importance of an independent judiciary.



Any opening up of the courts to broadcast media must be subject to ongoing oversight by judges to protect victims and vulnerable witnesses from inappropriate exposure in the media.



Greens MP and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:



"While greater openness is a positive development, it must come with sufficient checks and balances to avoid NSW courts going down the "Judge Judy" path.



"Broadcasting of court cases can be a positive, but it can't be allowed to turn our courts into media.



"Debate in recent weeks has shown that sentencing proceedings and the decisions made in them are important to many in the community, but misinformation continues to circulate about this.



"Access to sentencing proceedings, including the judge's sentencing remarks, provide important context for sentencing decisions - context which is often lost in sensationalised 30 second media reports.



"This is an important step in demystifying court proceedings, but there is much still to do to improve the communities understanding of the justice system.



"While there are strong arguments for greater access to criminal proceedings, there must be closer controls on access to civil trials between private citizens.



"Whatever changes are made, judges must still retain to exclude media where this is necessary for the protection of victims or witnesses", Mr Shoebridge said.



Media contact: 9230 3030



David Shoebridge

Greens MP in the NSW Legislative Council

P: (02) 9230 3030 T: @ShoebridgeMLC<http://twitter.com/#!/shoebridgemlc>

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