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GAZETTE
N E W S
JULY 1994
Soc i e ty Presents Just i ce
Med ia Awa r ds
At the Justice Media Awards Ceremony were l-r: Ken Murphy, Chairman, Justice Media Awards
Standing Committee; Richard Balls,
Sunday Press;
Feargal Keane,
Sunday Tribune;
Kieron Wood,
Legal Affairs Correspondent,
RTE; Tish Barry, Consortium TV; Robert Gahan, Deputy
Director
General, RTE; Jacqueline
Mahon, Group Corporate Affairs, Aer Lingus; Michael V. O'Mahony,
President, Law Society of Ireland; John Masterson, Series Editor,
Tuesday File
RTE; Kevin Dawson,
Reporter,
Tuesday File,
RTE and Frank Connolly,
Sunday Business Post.
The overall winner of the Justice
Media Awards Competition, organised
by the Law Society, was RTE, the
| broadcaster of the weekly television
| series
"Murphys' Law"
which was
made by an independent production
company, Consortium Television. The
awards which are aimed at rewarding
journalism and broadcasting which
contributes to the public's
understanding of the Irish system of
law and justice or any specific legal
issue, were presented by the President
of the Law Society,
Michael V
O'Mahony,
at a ceremony in the Law
Society on 8 July. In all, eleven
awards were made in this year's
competition. The prize for the overall
winner of a trip for two to New
Orleans was kindly sponsored by Aer
Lingus.
Addressing the awards ceremony, the
Chairman of the Justice Media Awards
Standing Committee,
Ken Murphy,
Law Society Council Member,
explained that two types of award
were made by the Society under the
rules of the competition. Justice Media
Awards were presented for outstanding
contributions to the public's
understanding of the Irish system of
law and justice. Certificates of Merit
were presented to entries judged to be
noteworthy examples of public service
in this regard. He pointed out that the
presentation of an award by the Law
Society did not depend on and did not
necessarily represent an endorsement
by the Law Society of the winning
entrants' views.
Murphys' Law,
he said, was the
unanimous choice of the Justice Media
Awards Standing Committee as the
overall winner of the competition.
"This series of twenty programmes,
produced by Consortium TV and
broadcast each week by RTE
television from September 1993 to
April 1994, was an outstanding
example of everything the competition
exists to promote." In their citation,
the judges of the competition praised
the format of the programme. "A
single area of the law was chosen, a
legal expert was interviewed and
encouraged to explain the principles of
law at work in simple terms and then a
panel of individuals, typically
including both lawyers and non-
lawyers, who had a direct involvement
with the law in question, held a
discussion. The two presenters,
Mike
Murphy
and
Cynthia Ní Mhurchú,
were excellent as the viewers'
representatives asking the simple yet
searching questions and maintaining a
clear focus on the issues under
examination." The award was accepted
by
Robert Gahan,
Deputy Director
General, RTE and a presentation was
also made to Consortium TV which
was accepted by
Tish Barry.
In addition Justice Media Awards
were presented to:
RTE for a Tuesday File programme
entitled
The Compo,
broadcast on 15
February 1994, which investigated the
cultural and legal factors which have
produced the Irish system for
awarding compensation to personal
injury victims. The judges said that
"the programme resisted the
temptation to veer towards
sensationalism. Instead, it asked
difficult questions of a series of
people involved in different ways in
the personal injury compensation
system, presenting various arguments
why the system should or should not
be changed in the public interest.
While the Law Society would not
necessarily agree with the
programme's conclusions, it
recognises the excellence of the
programme making and applauds the
choice of topic." The award was
accepted by
John Masterson,
Series
Editor of Tuesday File, RTE.
The
Sunday Tribune
for two articles
by
Feargal Keane
entitled
The Rocky
Road to Divorce
and
Moving Towards
Divorce,
published on 30 January and
6 March 1994 respectively. The
judges said that "these two articles
comprised exceptionally balanced
thought-provoking analysis of the
legal and human problems faced by
Irish policy makers in the area of
divorce. They represented a
substantial contribution to the public
debate on this difficult legal and
political issue. The award was
accepted by
Peter Murtagh,
Editor of
the
Sunday Tribune
and the journalist
Feargal
Keane.
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