Media role to keep judges in line

High Court Chief Justice Stephen Gageler is concerned media criticism of individual judges in Australia has increased, which could reflect on the judiciary as a whole. It is hard to see this happening when judges’ lives outside the court are reported only when what they do makes them news. Legal affairs correspondent Ellie Dudley reports in The Weekend Australian the Chief Justice points to “the tendency of the mainstream media to criticise individual judges who are seen to fall short – even in their personal lives – of maintaining community standards”. Another word to describe reputable news coverage of the behaviour by judges who fall short of community standards is report – leaving readers to make their own judgments on the basis of the facts.

This is how it must be in the interests of justice, in this age of social media activists and influencers commenting on everything and anything with scant regard for accuracy. The quickest way to bring the judiciary into disrepute would be for media of record, governed by the law and codes of conduct, not to report whatever individuals who happen to be judges are up to off the bench. If that happens, as occurs in societies where there is no independent news media, rumour mills pick up speed, conjuring speculation into stories with a potential to reduce the credibility of the justice system as a whole. That does not happen here.

As Chief Justice Gageler points out, the High Court has made many controversial decisions that were questioned, “but never in my experience has there been questioning of the authority of the court”. A critical, questioning media that reports the news helps keep it so.