Journal of Media Law and Ethics -

Student Name
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION(S)
MEDIA LAW AND ETHICS

P a g e | 1
Question 5.
Is ‘Tweeting’ a court proceeding fair and ethical?
Introduction
Courts hold a significant position in government in the form of impartial arbiters
solving legal disputes. We know that social media act as an excellent tool which not only
saves time and money but people accountability, accessibility and transparency ( Pearson &
Polden, 2019). However, the challenge such as effectively and securely leveraging the
media tools within a courtroom setting has made tweeting more problematic in reality. This
essay aims at providing a comprehensive overview of legal and ethical issues associated with
one of the media tools, twitter with reference to previous case studies.
Critical discussion
Twitter is one micro-blogging platform that effectively and easily communicates
perceived information to the targeted audience. However, using twitter in courtrooms can
make Judicial and government officials ethics come into question which includes the
revelation of actual impropriety or appearance, breach of confidentiality, conflict of interest
and improper political activity besides violating professional standards (Meyer, 2014). In
March 2009, journalists used Twitter to give live updates regarding court proceedings of
Julian Assange’s bail application. The court proceedings had no jury and judges were
supposed to grant bail. Some American judges allowed journalists to make tweets about
criminal trials and asked them to give verdicts solely based on evidence. However, one of the
jurors was caught asking Twitter followers for advice (Dyer, 2010). The case study reveals
that even the court case is bias, its responses may not be. In such cases, the risk behind fair
and ethical decision making in trails becomes very serious.