Silence is no Longer Golden: Media, Public Relations and the Judiciary in Israel

<p>The media policy of judiciaries is inherently fraught with potential conflicts. On the one hand, judiciaries have strong incentives to foster their relations with the media, and recognize the fact that public confidence is in many ways dependent on quality reporting of the courts. On the ot...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anat Peleg, Bryna Bogoch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2014-10-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ssrn.com/abstract=2506604
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Summary:<p>The media policy of judiciaries is inherently fraught with potential conflicts. On the one hand, judiciaries have strong incentives to foster their relations with the media, and recognize the fact that public confidence is in many ways dependent on quality reporting of the courts. On the other hand, according to classical judicial ethos, silence in the public sphere outside the courtroom still appears to be a central tenet of judicial ideology. <br /> Our study, based on interviews with 40 Israeli judges conducted between 2005-2012, points to the contradiction between the formal restraints on judicial media conduct and the judges' acknowledgement of the need for a pro-media approach in an age of transparency and growing public distrust of governing institutions. Our findings regarding the PR practices of the Israeli Judiciary and its responses to the challenges of the media age are analyzed in light of current theories in public relations.</p> <hr /><p>La pol&iacute;tica de medios del poder judicial est&aacute; llena de conflictos potenciales. Por un lado, el sistema judicial tiene grandes incentivos para fomentar sus relaciones con los medios de comunicaci&oacute;n, y reconocen el hecho de que la confianza del p&uacute;blico depende en muchos casos de la calidad con la que se informa de los juicios. Por otro lado, y siguiendo los valores judiciales cl&aacute;sicos, todav&iacute;a es un principio b&aacute;sico de la ideolog&iacute;a judicial que se mantenga el silencio en la esfera p&uacute;blica, fuera de las salas de los juzgados.<br /> Este estudio, basado en entrevistas con 40 jueces israel&iacute;es llevadas a cabo entre 2005 y 2012, pone de relieve la contradicci&oacute;n entre las restricciones formales en la conducta de los medios de comunicaci&oacute;n judiciales, y el reconocimiento de los jueces de la necesidad de acercar los medios de comunicaci&oacute;n, en una &eacute;poca de transparencia y mayor desconfianza p&uacute;blica hacia las instituciones gobernantes. Se analizan los hallazgos sobre las pr&aacute;cticas de relaciones p&uacute;blicas del sistema judicial israel&iacute; y sus respuestas ante los retos de la era de los medios de comunicaci&oacute;n, a la luz de las teor&iacute;as actuales sobre relaciones p&uacute;blicas.</p> <p><strong>DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN</strong>: <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2506604" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/abstract=2506604</a></p>
ISSN:2079-5971