News
Reception launches Reynolds Courts & Media Law Journal
03-10-2011
“Every few years there is a ‘trial of the century,’ during which courts are asked to change venue or grant a new trial to a defendant based on the volume or nature of trial publicity,” said Ben Holden, center director and former executive editor of the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. “With the advent of social media–where any communication device makes virtually anyone a reporter–these important constitutional conflicts will become even more prevalent, and more difficult to resolve.”
The first issue of the law journal features articles from John R. Emshwiller, The Wall Street Journal, First Amendment attorney Walter H. Bush from Carlton Fields law firm in Atlanta, Ga., Holden and Eric P. Robinson, deputy director of the Reynolds National Center and managing editor of the law journal.
The center produces the law journal and offers regional education conferences to improve relations between judges and journalists. The conferences also offer continuing legal education credit (CLE) opportunities to local attorneys.
“The goal of the journal is to provoke and facilitate discussion of the issues that judges and journalists face in their daily work in our courts,” said Robinson. “We hope also that the journal will be used as a resource as judges and journalists address these important issues.”
“While the relationship between the courts and media is sometimes marked with disagreement, the ability to examine and discuss issues contributes to understanding the roles each serves in our democracy. The journal provides a forum for those discussions,” said Judge William Dressel, president of The National Judicial College.
“Today’s economic problems limit the amount of money that media companies have to invest to safeguard the rights of the press in their dealings with the courts,” said Jerry Ceppos, dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. “The continued work of the Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media facilitates new cooperation between journalists, lawyers, and court officials.”
The Reynolds Courts & Media Law Journal will be published four times per year and distributed broadly to judges, journalists, law school libraries, First Amendment attorneys and legal scholars.
Each issue of the journal also will be available online at courtsandmedia.org.
The Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media is sponsored by the Reynolds School of Journalism and affiliated with the National Judicial College.
The Reynolds School is the only accredited journalism school in Nevada.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States and has made grants totaling more than $100 million through its National Journalism Initiative.
Nevada’s land-grant university founded in 1874, the University of Nevada, Reno has an enrollment of nearly 17,000 students. The University is home to one the country’s largest study-abroad programs and the state’s medical school, and offers outreach and education programs in all Nevada counties. For more information, visit www.unr.edu.
