Newsdesk Law: Court reporting and Contempt

Training and advisory services in media law, social media and journalism

There seems to be something a bit odd going on in the courts at the moment. That all sounds quite legalistic, so what am I talking about? How can past experience help us out now? It is clear from previous cases that any departure from the general principle that justice must be done publicly, via the imposition of a S.

The types of cases in which S. Other examples of cases where S. It is clear from these limited types of case that very special circumstances are required for S.

• News Academy.
• Globalization, Difference, and Human Security (Interventions).
• Newsdesk Law Libel Contempt Court Reporting Privacy Freedom of Information Paperback – July 2010.
• Naked Politics: Nudity, Political Action, and the Rhetoric of the Body.
• Court reporting | David Banks Media Law.
• Soigner par lhypnose (French Edition);
• La Era del Mesias (IBRI Research Report (Spanish) nº 9) (Spanish Edition).

If we allow the principle to become eroded and not challenge improperly made Orders, we will find ourselves at the bottom of a very steep and slippery slope from where it is hard to climb. Attempts to have order overturned by magistrates fell on deaf ears and chief legal advisor to court claimed that once mags had sent case to crown it was no longer in their or his power to rethink their decision.

It is hardly any wonder that there is distrust of the media when we hear things like: This threat to fair trials posed by prejudicial online material is one of the reasons we have seen an increase in the number of contempt prosecutions in recent years. The current Attorney General, Peter Wright QC, does not seem to share quite the same enthusiasm for prosecution as his predecessor, but the GQ case should serve as a warning to editors that he is prepared to prosecute where publications overstep the mark.

GQ were able to point to mitigating factors which helped reduce their fine. They had taken legal advice over the article, so it was not a case of them being reckless about contempt, even though they made the wrong call on the day.

They withdrew thousands of magazines from circulation and pulped them when the legal problems with the article became clear. If you want to avoid contempt of court, you could start by reading my post on doing just that. It remains by far and away the most-read post on this site, which perhaps shows how worried journalists are about it although in reality libel is much more frequent and potentially more expensive. In the long run though, I wonder how long contempt can try to hold back the tide of prejudicial publication in high profile trials. You only have to take a brief look though definitely not if you are a juror in the case at some of the social media postings about the trial of Adam Johnson to see that the law is struggling here.

You might argue that no rational juror would take any notice of social media blowhards with minimal followings. But some of the people commenting are well-known themselves and clearly know nothing of this area of law and why should they or else do not think it applies to social media. They are wrong, but it will take a prosecution to hammer home that message. If the Attorney General is prepared to prosecute a newspaper with 50, readers, how can he justify not prosecuting someone with a million Twitter followers?

Worth noting, that it is just that, the prosecution opening. I am being asked a few questions on Twitter about what it is safe to tweet and blog. Not from reporters at court, many of whom are very experienced journalists and well able to produce reports compliant with reporting restrictions, but from bloggers and tweeters who are commenting on the case.

Contempt of court and reporting restrictions

There have been a number of court orders made in this case, primarily to prevent prejudice to this and other cases. I gather that warnings have been issued over some tweets made in the past couple of days.

Caution is advised, the current Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP, is keen as mustard when it comes to contempt and has said in the past that he would issue contempt proceedings against an individual blogger or tweeter if the need arose. When reporting proceedings it is always wise to stick to what has been said in court, in front of the jury, that way you are not revealing to them anything they do not already know. As a general rule do not make reference to any other proceedings, past or pending, you may know about as that risks prejudicing this trial or any future trials.

Furthermore, do not do anything that vilifies a witness, that might put them off testifying, that could also be a contempt. In the archive of this site you will find a quick guide to avoiding contempt of court which you might find useful. And here is the coverage on the HackedOff website. You might well have arranged training for your staff, but have you thought about your own? When was the last law refresher you attended? You might reasonably leave day-to-day spotting of legals to your newsdesk and subs, but in some cases it is you that will be held responsible when things go wrong. Relatively new offences like trafficking and voyeurism are catching journalists out because they do not realise they are sexual offences.

The consequences of breach are very serious, a prosecution under the Sexual Offences Amendment Act — and the CPS will sometimes prosecute both the paper and the editor. Conviction will result in a criminal record for a sexual offence. He said when he took office that prejudicial publication was a concern and he has been true to his word in allowing prosecutions for contempt.

They can still, theoretically, jail editors for contempt last time that happened was the editor of The Mirror in over converage of the Haigh Acid Baths Murders Nowadays they give the editor a personal fine, as well as the paper. Fines are unlimited, but tend to be in the tens of thousands of pounds. Publication of material which would not have resulted in prosecution five years ago, is now being being taken to court. Libel remains your most potentially expensive problem. The new Act will probably be implemented from summer It contains new defences and new limits on how claimants can take action against you.

You and your staff need to understand the changes it introduces.

Contempt of court and reporting restrictions | News Academy

The laws we saw Leveson explore at some length. You may well be taking on young, technically adept journalists. They, and you, need to know the legal limits on use of their technical expertise in obtaining stories. Likewise, what is a bribe, who can be bribed and how to avoid a bribery charge? The next big issue coming down the track I think.

Newsdesk Law - Libel, Contempt, Court Reporting Privacy, Freedom of Information (Paperback)

Journalists are magpies and tend to regard the Internet as a limitless source of free material, especially imagery. People posting pictures online seem to be becoming more aware of their legal rights over such material and we will, I think, start seeing actions for copyright breach in the near future for the sort of online pilfering reporters have regarded as safe up until now. If the above has given you pause for though, I run in-house law refreshers for editors and their staff. All sessions are tailored to the individual publication concerned. If you would like to talk about training, drop me a line at davidbanksmedialaw gmail.

A one-day course covering the basics of media law that can affect anyone publishing in the UK either in print or online. If you would like more information, or want to book a place on any of the courses, email me at davidbanksmedialaw gmail. Yes, I know, see point 7. They should be praying fervently that on June 23 we vote Remain and stay in the EU. But this very good bit of law only protects us against libel, nothing else. Some points about the case worth noting: The current Attorney General, Peter Wright QC, does not seem to share quite the same enthusiasm for prosecution as his predecessor, but the GQ case should serve as a warning to editors that he is prepared to prosecute where publications overstep the mark GQ were able to point to mitigating factors which helped reduce their fine.