MEDIA GROUPS WIN COURT BID TO GET DRUG REPORTING BAN LIFTED

A NUMBER of media organisations yesterday won their Supreme Court challenge
to a Circuit Court judge's decision to ban day-to-day reporting of a major
drugs trial in Cork in February last year. The trial followed seizure of
#47-million worth of cocaine at Cork harbour.

The High Court, in a judgement last November, had rejected an appeal
against the Circuit Court decision.

But the media groups took an appeal to the Supreme Court where, yesterday,
the five judges came out unanimously in their favour.

The appeal was taken by Independent Newspapers, Irish Times Ltd, Examiner
Publications (Cork) Ltd, News Group newspapers and RTE. Four foreign
nationals were accused of drug-related offences. One pleaded guilty prior
to trial and the other others were eventually acquitted.

After the trial opened, Judge Anthony Murphy ordered that there should be
no contemporaneous reporting other that the trial was proceeding in open
court; the names and addresses of the accused and the charges.

The Circuit Court judge made his remarks after reports relating to the case
on a radio station and in a local newspaper.

Allowing the appeal, Chief Justice Liam Hamilton said he was satisfied the
Circuit Court judge had, in the circumstances of the case, no jurisdiction
to make the order sought to be quashed and that he erred in law in so
doing.

The Chief Justice said that in the recent past, many trials had been
aborted because the trial judge considered the integrity of the trial
process had been interfered with by reason of the manner in which the trial
was being reported in the media and that there was a real risk of an unfair
trial.

The trial judge was entitled to discharge a jury in circumstances only if
he was satisfied the risk of an unfair trial could not be avoided by
appropriate rulings and directions.

Save in exceptional circumstances, said the Chief Justice, a trial judge
should have confidence in the ability of a jury to understand and comply
with such directions, disregard any inadmissible evidence and give a true
verdict in accordance with the evidence.

"It is only when this is not possible that the extreme step shall be taken
of discharging the jury," he added.

Mr Justice O'Flaherty, in his judgement, said the blanket ban imposed by
the trial judge went too far and was not justified. It was an order to
prevent what was only a possibility of harm - though made, he had no doubt,
for the best of motives.

He added: "The risk that there will be some distortion in the reporting of
cases from time to time must be run.

The administration of justice must be neither hidden nor silenced to
eliminate such a possibility. The light must always be allowed shine on the
administration of justice. That is the best guarantee for the survival of
the freedom of the people of any country."