Mission, Goals, Vision
OUR MISSION
The Reynolds National Center for the Courts and Media dedicates itself to strengthening an independent judiciary and a free press, the safeguards without which there would be no American democracy.
Through its educational work the center ensures that judges and journalists develop insight into their respective roles.
Critical as they are to our system of government, neither institution can fully flourish without the other. The courts breathe life into the constitutional guarantee of a free press. And the free press validates the power of an independent judiciary. Together they give voice to the mute, strength to the weak.
Absent a strong mutual understanding between the courts and media, public confidence in the entire system erodes, and democracy, as we understand it, is imperiled. The Center's sole purpose is to promote that understanding. No other institution in America has that charge.
OUR GOALS
The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for the Courts and Media aspires to the following goals:
To provide quality instruction to judges about the media and their needs and interests regarding in reporting on legal activities.
To provide quality instruction to journalists about America's courts and their interests and processes of operation to better ensure accuracy in reporting and facilitation of access to court information.
To provide quality training to court personnel in the duties of the court public information officer in cooperation with the National Conference of Court Public Information Officers.
To work with judges and journalists to help improve the media's access to public information in the court system.
To serve as the comprehensive informational resource on issues involving the relationship between the courts and the media.
To promote the model courtroom to judges and journalists as an effective means of creating a media-friendly courtroom environment for covering court cases.
To conduct original research on issues involving the relationship between the courts and the media that will help lead to resolution of areas of conflict.
To help coordinate and facilitate programs and activities of those judicial and journalistic organizations that also are designing programs relating to the relationship between the courts and media.
To provide assistance to court personnel and journalists in other nations, particularly the newly emerging democracies, as they also struggle with finding the appropriate balance between their courts and their media.
To promote and enhance the prestige of the Reynolds Center's co-creators, The National Judicial College and the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism.
STATEMENT OF VALUES
In conducting its work, The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for the Courts and Media will be guided by the following values:
Allegiance to the American system of self-government, particularly regarding emphasis on liberty and justice for all.
Appreciation and support for a free and independent press.
Appreciation and support for an independent judiciary.
Emphasis on accuracy in reporting on court developments.
Emphasis on fair and impartial trials to all parties in court proceedings.
Support for improved media access to appropriate court information.
Promotion of courtesy and civility in discourse about the issues involving the relationship between the courts and media.
Emphasis on respect for our legal and journalistic institutions and the processes by which they operate.
Honesty and integrity in all matters relating to operating the Reynolds Center.
Frugality and prudence in the management of the Reynolds Center funds.
Appreciation and support for the continuing progress of the Reynolds Center's parent institutions, The National Judicial College, the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
STATEMENT OF VISION
The vision of The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for the Courts and Media is rooted in the observation the late great television newsman Edward R. Murrow: "What distinguishes a truly free society from all others is an independent judiciary and a free press."
The unfortunate reality is that these two institutions, so critical to America's democratic system, historically have been wary of each other at best and, at worst, even hostile. That remains the case today.
The Reynolds Center will be judged a success if its programs and operation can reduce the tensions between the judiciary and the journalists. If the goals of the Reynolds Center are fulfilled, the judiciary will come to have a better understanding of and an appreciation for the vital role played by the media in establishing an informed citizenry.
Likewise, the Reynolds Center will have succeeded if, through its work, journalists better understand the inherent ethical limitations on the judiciary obligated to ensure the fundamental fairness of the trials over which they have jurisdiction.
The Reynolds Center also will have succeeded if more legal affairs journalists gain knowledge of court procedures and the law itself so as to increase the degree of accuracy of the coverage of the courts.
The vision of the Reynolds Center, therefore, can be summed up as creating a new atmosphere whereby judges and journalists understand the fact that they need each other. More journalists need to realize their First Amendment Freedoms exist solely because judges interpret the Constitution in ways to protect freedom of the press. And more judges need to realize that their independence exists solely because of the public's confidence in the fundamental fairness and integrity of the judicial system, and that that confidence is directly dependent on the information the public receives from the media.
The Reynolds Center then must contribute to the ongoing improvement of the American way of life through achieving greater harmony between the courts and the media through its programs, information and dialogue. The vision of the Reynolds Center is to take the lead in promoting both the independent judiciary and the free press through a reduction in the conflict between both.
