Media can oversee court proceedings but should not try to influence them

NIE SHUBIN was sentenced to death and executed in 1995 for rape and murder. But clues pointing to his possible innocence were revealed in 2005. His family petitioned for a review and the Supreme People's Court assigned the job to the high people's court in Shandong province, East China. The court has now announced its judgment will be delayed three months due to the complexity of the case. It is good for the media to follow the case but they should not intervene in the judicial process, says an article on rednet.cn:

There have been many media comments about Nie Shubin's case and a brief look at their headlines shows they are not bipartisan: Justice has been late; When will justice be done? Let justice come...

The court has not made any final conclusion yet, but these media outlets are already implying that the death sentence given to Nie was wrong and should be corrected. This time, following the Shandong court's announcement, a big, bold headline appeared in an agency's editorial: Justice cannot afford to be late again.