The media do not always show the responsibility they should when it comes to covering issues like sentencing, according to the Chief Justice of England and Wales.
Lord Woolf said an open debate on sentencing was a precondition for sensible policy, but this was hampered by the way in which elements in the media reported on the subject.
With increased reporting came increased misreporting, he added. "It can be repeated again and again and be extremely damaging to public confidence in the justice system."
Speaking at the RTÉ/UCD annual lecture on broadcasting and the law, Lord Woolf gave example of reports that he, while discussing sentencing guidelines, had said burglars should never be imprisoned.
This was repeated and came to be accepted, even though he had not said it.
A number of measures had been taken to avoid such misreporting, including the writing down of sentencing remarks.
The Lord Chancellor's office had a press office, and he hoped that this would continue when the office ceased to exist.
It was needed, not for "spin", but to ensure accuracy in reporting and protect the "dignity of the judiciary".
"We should try to avoid the law of contempt," he said. "The ability of the media to discipline itself should suffice."
Following the lecture, Lord Woolf told The Irish Times he considered the Press Council in Britain to be working well.
"Generally I think it does quite well," he said. "But we must wait and see what the Hutton report will say."
Parliamentary democracies depended on the existence of independent and free media and an independent and free judiciary, he said in his lecture,
"Governments can and do exercise immense power. If a government has a substantial parliamentary majority it can allow it to become impatient with criticism.
"It can become insensitive to the importance of the independence of the judiciary and the media," he said.
Checks on the government came from the courts and the media. The media exposed the activities of governments, and the judiciary decided on their legality.
He pointed to the guarantee of freedom of the press in the Irish Constitution, but added that it "came as something as a surprise" to find this was qualified by the statement that it should not be used "to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State".
This right was also guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, he pointed out.
The ECHR also contained an indirect guarantee that there should be an independent judiciary, as an entitlement of the public.
The convention also contained the right to privacy, he said. The rights of the media were balanced against the right of the individual to privacy.
"The media have reason to be reasonably grateful to the judiciary. The courts have been aware of the need to get the balance right" Lord Woolf said.