Chapter §21.6 A Note on Bench-Bar-Press Principles

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§21.6 A NOTE ON BENCH-BAR-PRESS PRINCIPLES

The Washington State Bar Association, state courts, and media associations together have promulgated voluntary "Bench-Bar-Press Principles" and "Considerations in Reporting of Criminal Proceedings." See Wash. Courts, BENCH- Bar Press Comm., Statement of Principles, http://www.courts.wa.gov/committee/?fa=committee.display&item_id=59&committee_id=77 (last visited July 15,2014). The courts, the bar, and the media cooperatively wrote the Principles and Considerations, with express agreement that courts are not to use them as mandatory directives. A case upholding a trial court's required adherence to an earlier version of the Principles, Federated Publications, Inc. v. Swedberg, 96 Wn.2d 13, 633 P.2d 74 (1981), cert, denied, 456 U.S...