ABSTRACT
This chapter describes briefly the relevant features of the new audio-visual media. It presents the problematic capacities they have developed in relation to established forms of regulation, both national and international, which seek to balance free speech and fair trials. The public has a collective interest in fair trials for suspected individual citizens- as was discovered with cases like the Birmingham. Courts are a fundamental state responsibility as they dispense state laws and justice. Consequently, no matter who is appearing in them, there is state interest and therefore a legitimate demand for democratic accountability and discussion. The courts have regularly been persuaded that free speech, important though it is, must be overridden by concerns for the administration of justice. Consistent with earlier observations about the transformations within Western sovereign states in the late twentieth century, it would be futile to expect effective regulatory responses solely within the confines of national borders.
