Journalists called upon to be Careful in reporting judicial matters

A seminar was organised where seasoned Jurists gave talks on how to cover the judiciary.

Journalists have been called upon to be mindful of law No 103(10) of the criminal procedure code which dismisses the act of making a suspect bandit to repeat actions of his theft and then journalist are called upon to video tape and write about the situation. This action is punishable by the above stated law. The clarion call was made by Barrister Emmanuel Ashu, giving his talk on Familiarisation with the Judicial Language in a seminar organised by the Association of Dynamic and Caring Female Journalists in Douala known as JAFEC, under the theme Techniques of covering judicial reports, at the American Language centre.
He added that when doing reports the journalist should use words like alleged bandit , culprit or suspect bandit , among others because that person arrested has not been declared guilty by the law.
He defined the judiciary system, the court and its different sections and functions. He stated there is a high court and no low court. He explained judicial words such as Original Copy meaning the one the magistrate signs with his pen. He further explained a magistrate on the bench as one who passes judgements sitting while magistrate standing is one who stands and talks like the lawyers.
The barrister said the court has a Civil Section which handles civil matters, divorce, contracts, and commercial businesses.
An ace journalist who has been on the beat for 30 years, Casmir Datchoui Soupa stated in giving a straight report of a judiciary matter the journalist should be aware of certain questions such as who is the accused, on what, what arguments are advanced by the accused and plaintiff, what is position of the government’s representative.
One of the participants in the seminar, Carole Yemelong gave her experience on court reports. She started the case of the former Mayor of Njombe Penja where she had to go to Nkongsamba for the case. She cited the Lapiro case how she risked to get in to the cell just to get first information. She added that if a reporter is not passionate he cannot do court beats because the sessions are using very long.
EFFA TAMBENKONGHO