The Law Society wants a review of television coverage of court cases to proceed on the assumption that when jurors go on the internet, read newspapers or watch television accounts of the case they're hearing, they breach judges' directions.
Justice Minister, Judith Collins, promised a re-examination of the guidelines after television images of the trial of Ewen Macdonald for the murder of his brother-in-law Scott Guy were widely criticised as misleading and emotive.
Law Society president Jonathan Temm says at present the guidelines assume jurors are untouched by media reports but there is already evidence that is not always the case.
He says in Australia, Canada and Britain there are no television cameras in criminal courts.
The Ministry of Justice has yet to advise the judiciary on possible terms of reference for the review.
