Abstract

Trial by the media in a case whether civil or criminal is a part of investigative journalism and comes well within the right to freedom of speech and expression of the press. This can also involve the media to encroach upon the rights of the parties to proceedings while exercising its freedom of speech and expression. Moreover, discussing various privileged information in the public domain during proceedings causes many versions of the same story to come out and be sensationalized on the media platform. The media taking the role of an adversary and using the audience as a judge to conduct their own trials is how a media trial comes to be. Media on account of excessive coverage goes beyond its domain and publishes and covers interviews of witness or relative of a victim and prejudges the issue of conviction of the accused while the matter is pending adjudication in a court of law. This has a tendency to prejudice the mind of Court, Counsels and general public at large.

Keywords