2000: Courts and Media - Conflict and Cooperation
Courts and Media – Conflict and Cooperation
Click below to visit each discussion topic of the 2000 Conference
Opening Address: Observations on the Conflict Between the Courts and Media
Fair Trial vs. Free Press: Can a High Profile Defendant Get a Fair Trial?
Dot.Com: How Will Internet News Affect the Courts?
Is Media Coverage Threatening Judicial Independence?
Election vs. Appointment of Judges: Can We Achieve Fairness in Any Judicial Selection Process?
What Journalists Want: How the Courts Can Help
Nuts and Bolts of Court Coverage
Opening Address: Observations on the Conflict Between the Courts and Media
Kenneth W. Starr, former independent counsel, shared his thoughts about press coverage during his investigations of Whitewater and other matters related to President and Mrs. Clinton. He also reflected on what he might have done differently regarding his relationship with the press during the investigation.
A transcript of the Kenneth W. Starr speech will be available on this website soon.
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Fair Trial vs. Free Press: Can a High Profile Defendant Get a Fair Trial?
A panel discussion moderated by former ABC Supreme Court Correspondent Tim A. O’Brien, now a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, addressed this vexing topic. The panel included AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, St. Petersburg Times Editor and President Paul C. Tash and the Honorable Hiller B. Zobel, the Boston judge who presided over the Nannygate case.
Click for recommended reading to supplement this discussion
Dot.Com: How Will Internet News Affect the Courts?
A panel discussion moderated by Mark S. Curriden, Legal Affairs Writer for the Dallas Morning News, dealt with the new kid on the journalism block. The panel also included Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer for MSNBC.Com; Travis Linn, professor of journalism at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno; Dahlia H. Lithwick, Supreme Court Reporter for Slate Magazine; W. Osler McCarthy, Staff Attorney and Public Information Officer for the Supreme Court of Texas, and J. Robert Port, Senior Editor of APB News.Com.
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Is Media Coverage Threatening Judicial Independence?
This panel discussion looked at the press coverage of critics of judges' decisions, particularly involving death penalty cases, and assessed the effect such coverage had on the ability of the judge to maintain his or her independence, especially in light of the impact such coverage has on judges who stand for re-election. Moderated by A.P. Carlton, a practicing lawyer from Raleigh, North Carolina, and Chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Judicial Independence, the panel also included Ted Gest, Senior Writer for US News and World Report and current president of Justice Journalists; Judge Robert K. Pirraglia of Providence, Rhode Island, and Chair of the National Committee to Defend the Judiciary from Unfair Attacks, and Professor Penny White, former Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court who is currently teaching at Washington and Lee School of Law.
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Election vs. Appointment of Judges: Can We Achieve Fairness in Any Judicial Selection Process?
The question whether to elect or appoint judges has entered into the field of press coverage and the debate continues. The pros and cons of the argument and the role of the press in affecting the issue were reviewed by this panel moderated by Anthony Mauro, Supreme Court Correspondent for American Lawyer Media. Other panelists included the Honorable Thomas L. James, a justice on the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas; Fred Kalmbach, Assistant City Editor for the Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the Honorable Mills Lane, former District Judge in Reno, Nevada, and now host of the Judge Mills Lane television show and currently practicing law in Reno, and Burley B. Mitchell, former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, currently practicing law in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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What Journalists Want: How the Courts Can Help
Moderated by Dean William T. Slater, of the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno, this panel focused on access and a host of other restrictions journalists encounter in their efforts to cover the courts. Other panelists included Dr. Sherry Lee Alexander, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Communications at Loyola University in New Orleans; Ted Gest, Senior Writer for US News and World Report and current president of Justice Journalists; Jerrianne Hayslett, Public Information Officer for the Los Angeles Superior Court; William E. Wallace, Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; and the Honorable Hiller B. Zobel, the Boston judge who presided over the “Nannygate” case.
Click for recommended reading to supplement this discussion
Nuts and Bolts of Court Coverage
This panel focused on the typical guidelines courts prepare for the working press, in addition to discussing the ethical rules that limit what judges may be able to comment on during a pending case. Linda Deutsch, AP Special Correspondent who has covered all of the recent high profile trials, moderated the discussion. She was joined by Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press; Jack Kresnak, a writer for the Detroit Free Press; Warren Lerude, Professor of journalism at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno, and the Honorable Nancy C. Oesterle, a judge in the Las Vegas Justice Court and creator of a public service television program on the law.
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