Conference: “Criminal Justice and the Media: Between Distrust and Passion?”

Faculty of Law, Building 1, Paul Valéry Lecture Hall C – 39 rue de l’Université, 34000 Montpellier.
The conference is open to the public; admission is free.

In France, since the end of the 20th century, media coverage of criminal cases has increased significantly. This trend can be attributed to the proliferation of media outlets (print media, radio, television, and the Internet) and to journalists’ growing interest in both routine news stories and political-legal cases.

The public is captivated by this ever-changing news, while for the most part remaining unaware of the technical and complex legal rules of criminal law and criminal procedure. Beyond the principle of public access to criminal trials—which, to a certain extent, allows for media coverage through print and broadcast outlets—news coverage now extends vigorously to the confidential phases of the proceedings. Not without difficulty, the legal system has adapted to the realities of a media-driven society by creating opportunities for public access during the trial. The judiciary also conforms to the demands of communication by conveying messages to citizens through the media. Public prosecutors, as well as defense attorneys, have thus recently clashed through the media in dramatic cases involving the deaths of a young girl and a young wife, at the cost of staged confrontations in full view of the public.

The stakes are different. The media fulfill a public service mission by informing the public. The urgency of journalistic work and the pursuit of exclusive or sensational information clash with the necessary slowness of the judicial process, which operates at a different pace than that of the modern press—especially when the press is driven by a competitive mindset. The criminal justice system seeks to promote the proper functioning of the judicial system through the information it disseminates. There is a growing trend toward turning media coverage of criminal justice into “media-driven” criminal justice. The clash between these distinct objectives is a source of conflict, the resolution of which depends on the perpetual quest for a balance between the major democratic principles and fundamental freedoms enshrined in national and supranational law.

The purpose of this conference is to bring together the perspectives of both academics and practitioners on this issue, in order to assess the current state of affairs and explore future prospects regarding the ambiguous yet always passionate relationship between the criminal justice system and the media.

This academic event, organized by Mr. Olivier Sautel, Senior Lecturer (HDR), and Ms. Marie-Christine Sordino, Professor, is part of the “Innovation and Criminal Law” symposium series created by the Montpellier Criminal Law Research Team (EDPM-UMR 5815 Dynamiques du droit).