On The Relationship Of Press Freedom And Judicial Independence

Freedom of the press is an important symbol of modern democratic politicsand an indispensable part of constitutional politics. Judicial independence isthe basic requirement of modern law-ruled countries for judicial powerallocation and operation, which represents the political civilization of humanbeings. Freedom of the press is necessary to realize civil right to informationand freedom of expression, while judicial independence is necessary forcitizens to acquire impartiality in judicial decisions. Right to information andfreedom of speech are fundamental right and freedom guaranteed to citizensby constitution, while entitlement to impartiality in judicial decisions is also afundamental right guaranteed by the constitution. The relationship betweenfreedom of the press and judicial independence is actually how to fully secureand effectively realize these rights and freedom. Handling this relationship isthe important part of ruling of low. In China, Article 34, 41 and 126 ofConstitution recognizes the principle of freedom of the press and judicialindependence, respectively, but does not mention how to structure therelationship between freedom of the press and judicial independence.Based on the examination of the concept of ruling of law, this article exploresthe consistency and contradiction between freedom of the press and judicialindependence, which is followed by the summarization of general principles tonormalize the relationship between freedom of the press and judicialindependence by sketching the legal practices of western countries. It is endedwith concrete suggestions on how to establish the rational relationshipbetween freedom of the press and judicial independence in China, that is, toimprove and implement open trial;to establish spokesman system tostrengthen the communication and relation between the press and thejudiciary;to relax restriction on law case reports to expand supervision of thepress on judiciary;and supervision of the press should be based on theimprovement of judicial impartiality and independence so as to balance thesetwo different values and boost the process of "constructing the socialisticcountry under the rule of law".