Court officers fear inaccurate social media reporting and untrained ‘citizen journalists’
Court public information officers say their top professional concern is that inaccurate information from courtrooms is being posted online to social media sites, such as Twitter, potentially prejudicing major court cases.
The insight comes from a draft paper being put together by academics in the wake of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration conference, which examined social media and the law, in Sydney last week.
Professor Patrick Keyzer, the lead author on the paper, told Encore the insight came about as the result of focus groups conducted with 20 information officers at the event.
“Public information officers play an important role in assisting the courts to publish information about their work. Like judges and the public generally, they are keen to ensure what emerges from court is accurate,” said Keyzer.
