The tranquil silence of the court is in stark contrast to the dynamic and ongoing uproar of media and communication across time… Always in movement and many times emotionally moving: anger, sadness, love, and joy… We wrote in the previous book that “Man is more than a speaking animal; he is a media animal”. And as such, in this book, we logically tie media and communication to constant and dynamic motion.
Media evolved from news and information to communication, from broadcasting and receiving to the collapse of conventional roles whereby the reader is now a writer, the listener a broadcaster, and the viewer a presenter. Today’s social media is the result of the dynamic evolution and continuous development of media, from the traditional press to the myriad technological tools, social media networks, and all the fruits of the Internet, from Facebook, to Twitter, Instagram, blogs, smart phones, WhatsApp, and many more.
Media, in its constant bustle and piercing uproar, often errs; hence the principle of issuing apologies and publishing “corrections” in line with publication laws. The judiciary, on the other hand, rarely and very exceptionally admits to very, very few mistakes, if any. Silence is always dominant and is hardly ever broken, because the law... is the law and judiciary immunity is much higher and stronger than the symbolic immunity of journalists and media practitioners.
The purpose of this book is to lift the curtain on the relationship between the judiciary and media, as it is imperative that we explore the judiciary’s approach to media and communication. How does the judiciary “use” the media? How and why does it use it? Is its approach up to par with modern time technology? How can the judiciary justify the saying that not knowing the law is no excuse if it does not use communication, media, and advertising to inform the public of the law? How can “idiots” avoid falling in the trap of ignorance without media and communication?
Based on this principle, it is time for the judiciary to interact with the media, the law with communication, and the courts with communications technology.