Sept. 26, 2006 — After a full day of conferencing, local judges and journalists were able to etch out a list of goals, policies and ideas that could help "ease" some of the "tension" arising between the media and the courts.
In a Judges and Journalists Workshop held Tuesday at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort on St. Thomas, many of the territory's judges suggested that reporters spend more time in the courtroom when covering cases, and take time to better understand and learn about the judicial process.
During the discussion, journalists from the territory's major media outlets said that better access to public documents, such as case files and transcripts, was needed, along with a mechanism that would allow for more open channels of communication between reporters and judges.
Several participants also suggested that the court retain a public information officer to field questions that judges are prohibited (either ethically or legally) from answering. Both judges and journalists also agreed that regular meetings or forums should occur between the two groups, which would in turn, create a more open environment for discussion to take place.
Educating the media about the judicial process was also a top priority for judges, who said that reporters should be a given a copy of the "canons of judicial conduct," which, in one section, places restrictions on what court officials can, or cannot say, to the press.
One of the judicial canons quoted during the conference states: " a judge shall not, while a proceeding is pending or impending in any court, make any public comment that might reasonably be expected to affect its outcome or impair its fairness, or make any nonpublic comment that might substantially interfere with a fair trial or hearing."
The idea of having access to court officials, along with the idea of what is, and isn't public information, were consistent themes throughout the day.
During lunch, attorney Joel H. Holt, a speaker during the conference, addressed the issues head on by outlining why there "isn't more conversation" between judges and the media.
"Judges aren't as conversant as they want to be because they want to avoid all impropriety and the appearance of impropriety," Holt said. "And when they become judges, they give up the ability to say what they think because of the canons of ethics."
He added that judges "traditionally isolate themselves from the media for a number of other reasons" — including the fact that members of the media may end up as "litigants" before the court or could be privy to information that a prosecuting or defense attorney might use during a trial.
"The issue here is the First Amendment," he said. "As reporters, you want to get as many answers as you can. But the other person is thinking that they may not want to be part of the next story. Or, they're thinking that they don't want to be the next story."
Holt said that in looking at the boundaries between free speech and an individual's right to a "speedy and public" trial with an impartial jury, both judges and journalists have to "respect each other's turf."
Later in the conference, Phyllis D. Williams Kotey, a former judge and presenter during the workshop, underscored Holt's statements by encouraging participants to be "agents of change" by continuing the discussions in future meetings or forums.
"By doing that, we can decide our own fate in terms of what's going to happen," she said.
Tuesday's workshop was conducted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media (NCCM), a part of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev. The Courts and Media program is funded through grants awarded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
According to Gary A Hengstler, NCCM's director, the workshops help to strengthen the relationship between the courts and the media, by giving judges the opportunity to learn about various media issues and giving journalists a better understanding of the judicial process.
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