Fair media trail: A matter of concern
Tazmim Hossain Mim, Department of Law, North South University
Media is considered a pillar and represents democracy. It has a notable role in molding civil society’s opinions. Additionally, the media plays an active role in bringing the accused to the hook. Declaring the accused as convict without even the court giving its judgment is called a media trial. Every citizen has a right to know the public matters. Freedom of media is the freedom of people, and a free and fair press is indispensable to the functioning of democracy.
The media trail is a center of concern when a sensational or controversial case comes to the court for trial. It enhances the excitement and thousands of questions within the general public. They aspire to know every update from the news channels, websites, or newspapers to keep themselves updated with every improvement made by the court during the proceedings; however, these media sources sometimes provide news that consists of their version of facts.
The mystery is, “Is it creating damage to the actual fact, the victim, or even the life of an accused?”
There is a legal principle named ‘presumed innocent till proven guilty’ of a crime that is considered innocent until proven guilty. It also means that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty as charged. Though, this term frequently seems hampered by unfair media trail. Whenever a controversial case appeared before the court, the media initially made the accused guilty in front of the general public. The public unknowingly raises a question on the accused family, upbringing, character, and so on. The public makes his life “a death game” by posting on different social media platforms seeking the accused’s severest punishment. Civilians even do not wait until the court’s final judgment; based on the media trail, they ordinarily take the accused unquestionably guilty. If the accused is innocent, he never gets back his everyday life; furthermore, life becomes much more troublesome to lead. Sometimes the trial is very much affected by the Media sensation. Thre judges, while making decisions start considering Media criticism.
The damage in a victim’s life is also terrible and pathetic. Most of the news channels spread the news by posting her photograph. Nevertheless, this is not necessary in case of heinous crimes. The victim goes through different traumatic events, and the impact of being raped or sexually assaulted goes far beyond any physical injuries. Sharing her photograph or spreading unfair facts about the case drags her away from seeking justice. The fear of getting harassed by society gives her more bindings than the actual incidents. In this kind of matter, the victim often takes her steps back, thinking about her family reputation. When individuals view or read such things, they begin to form a perspective based solely on those stories that the media tried to tell and start to see the person being tried as the accused or innocent, depending on how the channels addressed that to them. These social judgments mostly arise before any verdict given by the court on the case or the person’s stance. In a democratic country, there has to be active participation of people in their community and the State. It is their right to be informed about the country’s current issues to form a general opinion in which the government and their functionaries are administering them.
These objectives require a clear and truthful account of events, not the mixing of false facts. As a citizen, everyone has a constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression. Article 39 of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s constitution says, (1) Freedom of thought and conscience is guaranteed. (2) Subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or concerning contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offense– (a) the right of every citizen to freedom of speech and expression; and (b) freedom of the press, are guaranteed.
The right to freedom of speech and expression is contained in the constitution. However, the freedom is not absolute as the same article binds it, and the right of freedom and speech and expression does not embrace the freedom to commit contempt of court. An unfair media trail is prejudice or interference with the judicial process. According to natural justice, ‘every accused has a right to a fair trial.’ A judge can only trial a case; no media has the right to assume an investigator’s role to try to prejudice the court against any person. Parties have a constitutional right to have a fair trial in a court of law, uninfluenced by media dictation or famous. Contempt of court has been introduced in order to prevent such unjust and unfair trials.
In many cases, the media has played the role of becoming much sensationalized, and they just tried to take their TRP’s higher, not the democratic opinions. Except for a few exceptions here and there, an unfair media trail creates a negative influence rather than a positive effect.
Media should execute a role to bring the facts as it is there. The citizen has a right to know and express their views on that particular case. Moreover, media should act as a platform to serve society’s voice. The media has to be adequately regulated by the courts. The media cannot be allowed a free hand in the court proceedings, and it should be monitored as the court’s contempt jurisdiction to maintain the mandatory code of conduct.