Law Project

 

New warnings on contempt of court issued to the media

The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC, has warned newspapers that he takes contempt of court seriously, and they need to use “internal constraint” and be more responsible about publishing stories that could impact on the justice system.

In recent months there have been a number of high profile contempt of court cases following allegations published about arrests of suspects in trials, as well as jurors being prosecuted for using the internet to find out information about cases.

Speaking at City University, Mr Grieve said: “The revolution in methods of communication cannot change what the Lord Chief Justice has termed ’essential principles’ and that is why contempt proceedings will be brought by me when required.”

A number of measures have been suggested with Lib Dem peer Lord Thomas even saying that newspapers should be forced to suspend publication for a day as punishment, as editors would often take a gamble that the arrested suspect would be convicted therefore no contempt proceedings would follow.

Although those in the media have been urged to show more restraint in court, the Lord Chief Justice has announced that reporters can now use Twitter as much as they like in the courtroom. Previously, electronic communications were banned but a new pilot system has been trialled which allows journalists to tweet in court as long as they asked permission from the judge on a case by case measure and this has now been extended to allow any reporter to tweet throughout a trial.

However, the public still have to ask for permission to make any electronic communications in a court room and the Lord Judge said it could be revoked at any time if it was shown to be interfering with justice.