Media Follies and Supreme Infallibility

The Supreme Court has taken steps to lay down a code for media reporting. This attempt at prior restraint on the media is a dangerous move with precedent from authoritarian polities. In a context where the judiciary has been lax in defending the media from attacks which seek to curb its freedom, such unilateral moves will not remedy bad reporting but rather make conditions worse for the media to play its role. The way to cure the ills of a media corralled within corporate and political interests is to give it greater freedom from curbs.