Category Archives: contempt

HMG Your Freedom: Abolish the ban on recording court proceedings

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Alistair Kelman: "Currently under Section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 it is illegal to tape record court proceedings. This topic was addressed by Ms Heather Brooke in a feature article in today's Times newspaper where she makes out the case very eloquently. As a barrister and expert witness I too have encountered similar problems in the UK courts and believe that no is the time for this Government to abolish the ban."

BBC: The Editors: Baby Peter and anonymity

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Steve Herrmann: "On this occasion, there were indeed two stories in our own archive relating to the very early stages of the Baby Peter case which, if you searched for them, did give the names of the defendants. We did not republish or link to them from new stories, but on this occasion plenty of other people chose to do so. ... We removed the stories from our archive even though in practice the details were easy to find, and the information had already been reproduced and cached elsewhere on the internet. Now that the restrictions have been lifted we've reinstated the stories in the archive. Not, incidentally, a very practical or easy way of doing things if we had to do it very often."

Currybetdotnet: Press silence on Alfie Patten DNA test result broken by Google News

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"Yesterday, The Mirror was reporting a further development in the story of the 13 year old boy named as a father. ... The Mirror has pulled the story from their site. It is an interesting test case of whether legal deletions should also cover SEO-orientated keyword stuffed URLs. They might have pulled the story, but I can still read the headline on the resulting 404 page."

New York Times: As Jurors Turn to Web, Mistrials Are Popping Up

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"The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges. ... Judges have long amended their habitual warning about seeking outside information during trials to include Internet searches. But with the Internet now as close as a juror’s pocket, the risk has grown more immediate — and instinctual."

Journalism.co.uk: Reporting restrictions in Baby P case make public think press is covering up, says Society of Editors head

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Bob Satchwell of the Society of Editors on how reporting restrictions effect on journalism is perceived by readers: "What is happening inadvertently, because of the internet, is that some people are suggesting that the media is conniving with the courts to suppress information which they feel they are entitled to know."

Currybetdotnet: Protecting the identity of Baby P’s killers: The courts vs the people vs the Internet

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Martin Belam: "Trying to stick to the terms of the court order preserving the anonymity of 'Baby P''s killers has been very testing for a lot of sites online. ... cache on Monday afternoon still contained a BBC News report from late last year that not only named those charged with the death of 'Baby P', but also the toddlers proper name, and, incredibly, their street addresses. ... A Telegraph report initially from around the same time could also be located in Google..."

Independent: Facebook vigilantes identify mother of Baby P

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"The identity of the 27-year-old mother of Baby P was last night being circulated on the internet with the names of her boyfriend and the third man convicted of causing the child's death, after online vigilantes began a campaign calling for violent retribution against them. An order issued by the judge who oversaw the trial of the woman and her boyfriend forbids details about them..."