Bloggers could face charges over trial 

Source: ONE NewsClayton Weatherston

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Online bloggers could end up facing charges for discussing aspects of the Clayton Weatherson murder case before the verdict was delivered.

Weatherston, 33, was found guilty of the murder of his former student and girlfriend Sophie Elliott by stabbing her more than 200 times on Wednesday.

Throughout the trial, comments on social networking sites and personal blog pages have caused legal dilemmas, with some experts questioning the effect they might have on a jury.

A Facebook page with the title "Clayton Weatherston is a murderer" was published during the trial and is now the face of a legal dilemma, because it is possibly a contempt of court.

But bloggers such as David Farrar, who runs the Kiwiblog website, may also be facing contempt of court.

"The problem is that everyone had an opinion. Everyone was talking about the case. Some at home, some at the workplace and some like to talk online," Farrar says.

The problem about online, he says, is that it is also a publication. Farrar says he can understand the concerns, due to that fact.

Farrar says most of time he is cautious, but in this case, it was such an emotional trial and the defence was so provocative.

He says he has been instructed to buy a media law text book, but he does not think that will solve the issue.

"The wider issue is that there are hundreds of thousands of people who all publish online, and they all won't read media law text books."

He says that there needs to be simple education for online publishers like himself.

Calls for law revamp

There are now calls for New Zealand contempt laws to be revamped, and the government has said the matter needs to be addressed.

Justice Minister Simon Power says the issue of the relationship between the internet and court proceedings will have to be looked at in the fullness of time.

However he says it is not something he is presently working on.