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GAZETTE
N W
SEPTEMBER 1992
E
S
Society Launches Media Awards
Logo for the Justice Media Awards
Competition
At the end of July, Law Society
President,
Adrian Bourke,
launched
the inaugural Justice Media Awards
Competition at a reception in
Blackball Place attended by a
substantial number of representatives
of all sections of the Irish media.
The competition is designed to
provide recognition of public service
by newspapers, magazines and book
publishers which make outstanding
contributions to public
understanding of the Irish system of
law and justice.
The introduction of the Media
Awards, which was pioneered by
Ken
Murphy
of the Public Relations
Committee, is designed to build
bridges with the media and to
encourage both higher standards of
reporting of legal issues and
increased coverage of legal affairs
generally. Ken Murphy says: " It is
clearly of benefit to both the public
and the profession to have accurate,
well informed reporting of legal
affairs in the media in order that the
public is aware of legal developments
generally. Very few people, other
than lawyers, will ever read a law
book. Accordingly the citizen's
general knowledge and
understanding of his or her legal
rights and obligations, whether
arising under existing law or new
laws, will come through reporting in
the media. In addition, the role of
the media in highlighting
miscarriages of justice, as recent
years have shown, is absolutely
crucial".
The first competition will cover the
year from 1 May, 1992 to 30 April,
1993. Any media organisation which
has produced a newspaper, magazine
or book in Ireland is eligible to enter
the awards competition. Ken Murphy
says he hopes that solicitors
throughout the country will play a
role in identifying potential entrants
and will liaise with their local
newspapers both to make sure that
they are aware of the competition
and to encourage them to participate
in it. "The awards are based loosely
on the Gavel Awards Competition
run annually since 1958 by the
American Bar Association. The
Gavel Awards are highly prestigious
in the US. They have a reputation
for integrity and have been
enormously successful in
encouraging more extensive and
better quality coverage of legal
affairs. I hope the introduction of
media awards here will have a similar
effect and that our awards system
will grow and develop in much
the same way as the Gavel Awards
did".
The Justice Awards and Certificates
of Merit will be made in a number
of classifications including daily
newspapers, non-daily newspapers
with 30,000 or less circulation, non-
daily newspapers with circulation of
more then 30,000 magazines and
books. In the first year the
competition will be confined to the
print media but it is hoped thereafter
to include the broadcast media. In
addition, there will be one overall
prize which will be an expenses paid
trip for two representatives of the
winning media organisation to New
York City in August 1993. The
winners will attend the American
Bar Association's Gavel Awards
Annual Presentation Luncheon as
guests of the ABA. The travel costs
for this prize have been kindly
sponsored by Aer Lingus.
At the launch of the media awards,
Law Society President,
Adrian
Bourke,
said the media played a
vitally important role in a free
society in helping to expose both the
failings of the legal system and the
laws and legal practices which
require reform in the public interest.
"There is a huge agenda of reform
for the legal system, not just in
terms of amending outdated statutes
or introducing new legislation, but
also in terms of the accessibility of
our system of justice to the people it
exists to serve - the public. The
media has a vital role to play in
describing and highlighting the
reform agenda", he said.
Adrian Bourke also announced that
the Council of the Law Society had
decided that as and from 1 January
next the final outcome of all
disciplinary cases against solicitors
where misconduct is found would be
published in the Gazette so that the
information would be available in a
document of public record for any
member of the public or the media
who wanted access to it.
The Justice Media Awards of
1992/93 will be made at a
presentation ceremony in June, 1993.
The entries will be judged by
solicitors who will make up the Law
Society Standing Committee on the
Justice Media Awards. The deadline
for entries is 30 April, 1993. Entry
forms and a rules booklet are
available from the Law Society on
request.
The launch of the awards scheme
was greeted by very favourable
comment and coverage in all the
national daily newspapers both in
news reports and editorials. Within
two days of the launch of the
competition the first entry was
received.
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