Media contempt and reporting crime

Key professional rules for reporting crime and covering criminal proceedings:

2˜ Laws that control communication to protect the right to fair trial (Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)) and the administration of justice meaning criminal enquiries, litigation and legal proceedings at all levels

2˜ Key issues to remember: substantial risk (timing and scale of publication) of serious prejudice (content of publication) or impeding justice (disruption/impact on enquiry) applying from the time of arrest

2˜ Successful prosecution of the Daily Mirror and The Sun for vilification of retired teacher Chris Jefferies who was an exonerated suspect in the murder enquiry of Joanna Yeates

2˜ Successful prosecution of the Daily Mail and The Sun for publishing online prejudicial images of a defendant

during the trial that were not seen by the jury and removed shortly after publication

2˜ Successful prosecution of the Spectator weekly magazine for prejudicial editorial column at the beginning of a murder trial and while postponing reporting bans were in force

2˜ Successful prosecution of the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail for publishing background in trial of Levi Bellfield for murdering Milly Dowler when jury were deliberating on a lesser charge for an offence against another victim

2˜ Analysing substantial risk (fade factor – size of audience and timing) and serious prejudice (nature of content). The first test case: the man who walked into the Queen’s bedroom

2˜ Successful prosecutions of one juror for online research and communicating to an acquitted defendant on Facebook, and another for online research into the background and previous criminal trial of a defendant despite being ordered not to do so by the trial judges

2˜ Defying directions or orders of the court is a contempt of court whether the order is right in law or not

2˜ Judges can issue orders and injunctions removing archive articles online and postponing publication of articles and broadcast of programmes if there is deemed to be a substantial risk of serious prejudice to forthcoming or concurrent jury trials

2˜ Cross-jurisdictional reach. If you publish outside the UK, but your publications can be read, seen and heard in the UK, you can arguably still be liable

2˜ Although parliamentarians and foreign publications appear to have immunity from contempt prosecution, this does not necessarily extend to anyone reporting the information that is injuncted/banned/interdicted (that’s the term used in Scotland) or likely to be a serious prejudice or impedance to the administration of justice

2˜ Relatives or friends of persons convicted of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless genuinely relevant to the story and particular regard should be paid to the potentially vulnerable position of children who witness, or are victims of, crime

2˜ No payment or offer of a payment to a witness – or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness – should be made in ‘active’ criminal cases (after arrest etc) until the suspect has been freed unconditionally without charge or bail, proceedings have been discontinued, a guilty plea has been entered and accepted, or announcement of not guilty verdict

2˜ The payment to witness rule also applies when legal proceedings are likely and foreseeable, and any payment to a witness later cited to give evidence in criminal cases must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence, with the witness being advised of this obligation. This ethical rule is subject to a public interest justification

2˜ Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information that seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorize crime in general must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues. This is subject to public interest but when invoked, the editors need to demonstrate good reasons

2˜ Broadcasters (radio and television) must not include material that is likely to encourage or incite the commissioning of crime or to lead to disorder, and descriptions or demonstrations of criminal techniques which contain essential details that can enable the commission of crime must not be transmitted unless editorially justified

2˜ Journalists must avoid publishing material that could put people’s lives in danger or prejudice inquiries into hijacks or kidnappings (regulatory requirement for broadcasters). All journalists, whether print, online or

broadcast, should cooperate with police requests for news ‘blackouts’ aimed at saving a victim’s life. Any coverage of anti-terrorist or hostage recovery events must not include live material that would help assailants counter armed police or anti-terrorist operations

A downloadable sound file of these ‘bullet points’ on media contempt and reporting crime. 1.0 podcast downloadable https://soundcloud.com/ comparativemedialaw/chapter-1-bullet-points-uk

The UK legal system balances the right of the media to report its proceedings, known as ‘open justice’ with the right of a person to have a fair trial, which is enshrined in Schedule 1, Article 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) derived from Article 6 of the ECHR:

1 In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the

protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.