The case revolved around the right of the New Zealand Herald to publish the name of a successful American businessman, who in January admitted to charges of importing 136 grams of cannabis and cannabis oil. According to the reports in the newspaper, the drugs were found in the businessman's possession when he flew into Auckland airport and the rest were discovered on his yacht moored in Auckland Harbour. Upon hearing the case, a District Court judge discharged the defendant without conviction and passed an order preventing the media from publishing his name. As part of the successful argument presented to the court, lawyers acting on behalf of the newspaper produced evidence that the name of the defendant was already widely published on the Internet. And it's not just a question of open justice or freedom of expression.
Courts have to be seen to treat people fairly.
One of the worst public perceptions is that different categories of people are treated differently by the courts. The implications for the use of the Internet to protest against businesses and the possibility of defamation were also key questions in New Zealand this year. On 2 June an e-mail was circulated describing the sexual assault of a women in a taxi belonging to an Auckland taxi company. The e-mail called for a moratorium on the use of the taxi company because the company had failed to dismiss the offending taxi driver. It later surfaced that the sender of the e-mail had been misinformed and that the taxi driver had already been dismissed.