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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SC weighs ‘bar’ to keep media in line

SC weighs ‘bar’ to keep media in line

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published Published on May 4, 2012   modified Modified on May 4, 2012

-The Telegraph

The Supreme Court today appeared to be considering whether to lay down norms for court reporting that, if violated, would cost a journalist the right to cover court cases.

The idea came from senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, who has been pushing for media curbs, and seemed to find favour with Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia.

Venugopal suggested that journalists wishing to cover the courts be made to apply for formal accreditation from the top court. The court, he recommended, should lay down norms that, if violated by a reporter, would cause them to lose their accreditation and, therefore, their access to the courts.

Justice Kapadia asked him what the prescribed format should be for such accreditation, implying the court might consider the idea. He added that these norms might be prescribed as the dos and don’ts of reporting.

So far, no specific suggestions about the guidelines have been made.

Senior counsel Fali S. Nariman had warned against media curbs earlier today, saying that only laws passed by the legislatures could make exceptions to the right to freedom of speech and expression.

“Any court-made law would amount to judicial excessiveness, (and will go) against the theory of separation of powers,” he said.

He urged the court to instead exercise its moral authority and request the media to adhere to certain normative guidelines.

“Wouldn’t a request be better? Why should you always show the stick? Why should it not be persuasive?” Nariman asked.

A five-judge bench is hearing a batch of applications from corporate houses such as Sahara India, Vodafone and Speakasia claiming to have been affected by “adverse” media reporting on court cases involving them. The court, instead of deciding the specifics of the cases, has been dealing with the wider issue of court reporting.

Nariman has opposed any general media curbs despite representing Sahara. He urged the court not to even think of preventing the reporting of a case on the ground that it was adversely affecting one of the parties.

“You will then open the floodgates. All tycoons will get such injunctions,” he warned.

He added that in the information technology age, the courts could not control dissemination of news. “Information will come on Twitter, Facebook, etc.”

But minutes later, when Venugopal took the floor, Justice Kapadia enthusiastically sought suggestions on the accreditation norms from him.

Venugopal, the CBI counsel in the 2G case, has been complaining about the reporting of the court proceedings.

Sahara says that media reporting of a secret document sent to the Security and Exchange Board of India has affected its commercial interests. Vodafone has complained of misreporting of its legal standoff with the government on capital gains tax.

The Indian Newspaper Society and the Editors Guild are against coercive controls on the media.

The Telegraph, 4 May, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120504/jsp/nation/story_15449596.jsp#.T6NOcYFXOkw


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