Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri was right to grasp the opportunity presented to him by the opening of the Forensic Year to air concern about what he termed as media campaigns to put pressure on the courts.

The courts must be independent and impartial. Just like justice, that independence and impartiality must not only be safeguarded but also be seen to be happening in practice.

This could range from having all the necessary tools and personnel at the courts’ disposal to judges and magistrates being allowed to make their own conclusions freely and without any interference whatsoever, from anyone including the government and the media.

The Chief Justice said that both the courts and the media had a role in serving the public interest, each in their own particular way. There is a very delicate balance to strike between the space the judiciary need to have to mete out justice and the media to act as watchdog for society.

In a presentation some time ago, Lord Igor Judge, the former Chief Justice of England and Wales, underscored the fact that the independence of the judiciary should in no way reduce the responsibility of the press “to offer reasoned criticism of judges and their decisions” and neither should judges “be inhibited when applying the law as they find it to be and even when the media does not like it. That is because the law in a democratic country binds the judges just as much as it binds the media”.

Chief Justice Camilleri in a way acknowledged that last week when he noted that the judiciary was not exempt from criticism. His main concern was that confidence in the judiciary did not collapse. It is in everybody’s interest this does not happen.

He also focused on the need of the judiciary to be constantly scrutinised so it would always be on its toes, adding that judges and magistrates should not be blamed for all the faults that have existed in the justice system for years.

Here, the Chief Justice seemed to deviate from his main criticism of the press, which was about “specific [media] campaigns clearly aimed at pressing for specific results in pending penal procedures”. Journalists can hardly be blamed for faults in the justice system.

The first to point a finger should be the judiciary themselves. If there are matters that need rectifying it is up to them to press for changes and this is in the public interest. They would certainly have society and the media behind them.

Yet, such support cannot be guaranteed if some judges and magistrates continue to treat their courtroom as their own personal ‘fiefdom’, doing what they please, or ignoring directions by the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

The courts themselves have to cherish and closely guard the public trust they enjoy. So unbecoming conduct should be speedily sanctioned and publicly condemned by the judiciary. The Chief Justice has a role to play in this.

What torpedoed respect for the judiciary was not sensational media reports but hard-headed – not to say arrogant – and greedy members of the Bench.

The judiciary and the media can cooperate in promoting public trust in the courts. However, that would require a different attitude from certain elements within the judiciary, including the Chief Justice who has adopted a stand-offish approach to the press in marked contrast with his predecessor.

It is in the public interest that it happens; however, is the Chief Justice willing to embark on a campaign to boost court-press relations?

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