THE rise of digital media and instant public commentary has created an environment in which commissions of inquiry generate uncontrollable, misinformed, and hostile publicity, says former Tonga Chief Justice and Fiji High Court Judge Michael Scott.
While addressing the Fiji Law Society Annual Convention in Nadi yesterday, Mr Scott observed that 19th-century frameworks for commissions never anticipated the instantaneous reach of the internet.
Rather than informing the electorate, Mr Scott said inquiries often trigger waves of speculation that inflame public controversy instead of resolving it.
He stressed that official proceedings now ran the constant risk of being distorted online, making it difficult for the public to separate factual findings from speculation.
He also called on modern governments to carefully weigh these public fallout risks before establishing formal commissions under current statutory provisions.
“The amount of attention and publicity that is generated by these collisions is such that it’s completely uncontrollable and now we’ve gone into the internet age,” he said.
“Most of the attention and publicity is ill-informed, misunderstood, or hostile; you don’t know what’s true and what’s not true.”
