Friday, December 21, 2007



Contempt

The Dominion-Post is going to be charged with contempt of court for publishing the police's evidence in the case of the Urewera 17.

Good. While lots of people wanted to know what the police had, the newspaper's actions undermined the accused's right to a fair trial, tarring them indelibly in the public mind as terrorists. Fairfax media needs to be held to account for that, pour encourager les autres.

At the same time, it's not enough. The Urewera 17 case also saw an organised campaign of leaking from the police designed to smear their suspects, which also undermined the accused's right to a fair trial. Isn't it time the police were held to account for that, and told that they are there to serve justice, not "get their man" regardless of how many laws they have to break to do so?