Court And Media
CHIEF Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya underlined the need for mutual
understanding and good rapport between the court and media in order to protect the
fundamental rights of the people as enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal.
Addressing a seminar on "Media and Judiciary" organised jointly by Nepal Press
Institute and Judicial Council Secretariat, in Kathmandu recently, the Chief Justice said
that the role of the court and press is often complementary as both strive for the
protection and promotion of the rights of the people and to uphold the rule of law in the
country. Judiciary is, no doubt, a custodian of the Constitution and rights of the people
incorporated therein whereas the media is the watchdog of the government activities, and
advocates for the consolidation of democracy, freedom of the press and empowerment of the
people. Judiciary also seeks to protect freedom of expression, which is also main concern
of the media. A stronger and more effective judiciary is the interest of the press.
Despite the complementary role of the media and the court, sometimes there are
confrontations between the two which cannot be considered in the interest of the country
and the democracy that is in existence. Some cases of contempt of court were filed in the
past and a couple of journalists were punished for such by the court. This is because of
the failure to understand that both have a role to play for a common cause. However, both
need to understand the problems and limitation of each other. The duty of the media is to
point out mistakes and weaknesses of any individuals holding public positions and
institutions including the court itself. But this should be guided by the motive of
properly informing the people about the performance of the public institutions and suggest
measures needed to improve and strengthen the institutions. The court needs to appreciate
healthy and constructive criticism. At the same time, the media also has to understand its
limit. Since Judiciary is the custodian of the people’s rights including freedom of
the press, there should not be any effort of any kind to weaken the court. Everyone,
including the media, must realise that people’s rights including the freedom of the
press can be protected and guaranteed only when the judiciary is strong and effective.
Thus, the role of the media should be to strengthen the judiciary and enhance its image in
order to protect press freedom. At the same time, there should be no doubt whatsoever that
vibrant and independent media has a crucial role for the maintenance of the rule of law.
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