WA Supreme Court Allows Journalists to Use Twitter in Court

Wednesday 5 February 2014 @ 12.41 p.m. | IP & Media | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research

By way of a media release published to the Western Australian (WA) Supreme Court website on 31 January 2014 and a Practice Direction the Court has indicated that live tweeting from the all WA courts by journalists will be allowed from 4 February 2014.  The new policy was announced by the WA Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Honourable Wayne Martin AC.

What the new policy does

Under the new policy both the media and lawyers will be allowed to use electronic devices connected to the Internet, namely; laptops, tablets (ie, iPads, Android devices et al) and smart phones, from within the WA courts during proceedings.

While this is a first for WA, it is a measure already allowed in South Australia (see the Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006 and the Supreme Court Criminal Rules 2013) and apparently not approved of in NSW but allowed with restrictions.

What the Chief Justice announced

In commenting on the new policy His Honour Chief Justice Martin is quoted as saying:

“This new practice direction allows reporters to tweet verdicts, judgments and sentences as soon as they are announced in court, as well as report on evidence in trials as it unfolds, . . ."

His Honour goes on to say: "A fundamental principle of our justice system is that it is open and accountable, and journalists play an important role in ensuring the public learns what happens inside our courts . . . Tweeting results from inside the courtroom assists journalists to provide an immediate, fair and accurate account of court cases.”

Exceptions and Qualifications

It should be noted that the new policy applies only to journalists and does not extend to members of the public, and it is subject to any direction of the presiding judicial officer.

Also of note is that the ban on any recording in a courtroom, either photographic or audio, remains in place.

Specific WA Courts the Policy Applies to

The policy will allow the use of electronic devices in the Supreme Court, Family Court, District Court, Magistrates Court and Children’s Courts and State Administrative Tribunal of WA.

Twitter in other Jurisdictions

Instead of allowing social media and electronic devices in the courtroom NSW has released social media prohibitions in amendments to the Court Security Act 2005 which prohibits unauthorised transmissions including social media like Twitter and Facebook in Section 9A.

In the UK media organisations and journalists can apply for permission to use social media on a case-by-case basis, but the Lord Chief Justice has also said it may be necessary to bar its use by non-journalists to ensure the "proper administration of justice" and the prevention of distractions in court.

Other Twitter/Social Media Courtroom Issues

The above is certainly an interesting development and it is good to see that journalists are starting to be able to use the new technology in this way. More vexing  though for the judiciary will be the issue of jurors and observers how they use or are not allowed to use social media:

"The courts need to find the appropriate balance between protecting the administration of justice and respecting jurors’ privacy, personal rights and freedom of information, as well as ensuring that members of the public are not dissuaded from participating in a vital part of the justice system [namely, juries]"

or so concludes a quote from The Conversation in a post we prepared earlier.

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