Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark will be asking his interstate colleagues this week whether any of them have any “bright ideas” to combat the impact of social media on criminal trials.

The sense of urgency follows the murder of ABC employee Jill Meagher last month. The discovery of her body triggered a surge of prejudicial cyber commentary on social media sites, prompting fears the accused murderer, Adrian Ernest Bayley, would not get a fair trial. Clark has instructed his department to quickly come up with some ideas before Friday’s meeting of the state and Commonwealth Attorneys-General in Brisbane.

But the scramble for a solution has highlighted just how unprepared all the states are, despite the growing awareness that the courts are failing to keep pace with advances in social media. A