Silence is no longer golden: media, public relations and the judiciary in Israel

The media policy of judiciaries is inherently fraught with potential conflicts. On the one hand, judiciaries have strong incentives to foster their relations with the media, and recognize the fact that public confidence is in many ways dependent on quality reporting of the courts. On the other hand, according to classical judicial ethos, silence in the public sphere outside the courtroom still appears to be a central tenet of judicial ideology.
Our study, based on interviews with 40 Israeli judges conducted between 2005-2012, points to the contradiction between the formal restraints on judicial media conduct and the judges' acknowledgement of the need for a pro-media approach in an age of transparency and growing public distrust of governing institutions. Our findings regarding the PR practices of the Israeli Judiciary and its responses to the challenges of the media age are analyzed in light of current theories in public relations.