So, The Media IS Guilty

Beinisch: Media to blame for public's loss of faith in courts

In defending the integrity of the court system as the guardian of Israel's democratic values, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch lashed out on Monday against public-opinion makers who, she said, were zealously laboring to transform the legal discourse into an unprofessional public debate with the aim of influencing the judicial process.

Journalists, public-relations people and lawyers for the involved parties choose to conduct their cases on the television screen, in the press and in public forums. This particular phenomenon, Beinisch asserted, was generated solely by the desire to whip up public opinion and thereby influence the courts and impinge on the legal process.

Beinisch was responding to findings in a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute, which for the first time in years indicated that the public no longer regards the Supreme Court as the institution that best safeguards democracy.