Mindful of the continuing conflict between the constitutional right to a fair trial and the constitutional rights of a free press, the American Bar Association aims to make a definitive study of the practicality of national curbs on pre-trial news. But like other local groups, the Philadelphia Bar Association is unwilling to wait. Last week the Philadelphia lawyers voted for self-silence, plus such suggested “guidelines” for police as a strict “no comment” to reporters at the scene of a crime.
Not surprisingly, the Philadelphia gag (which is not legally binding) roused hot criticism from the local press, police, prosecutors, and even Mayor James H. J. Tate, who told the police to ignore it. But the sharpest words came from a less predictable source. “A free and unfettered press is indispensable to a free country,” said Chief Justice John C. Bell Jr. of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If it is “muzzled or gagged, crime will run even more rampant.” Added Justice Michael A. Musmanno: “Curbing crime news is like recommending that no one talk about cancer, on the theory that silence will cause cancer somehow to disappear.”
Bell and Musmanno left no doubts about their conviction that the public has an overriding interest in fighting crime, and that publicity is crucial to the fight. But even so, the jurists lost their argument when the bar association, with only one-sixth of its members in attendance, decided that due process is more important to the public interest.
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