Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Action at last on contempt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/may/12/medialaw-daily-mirror
Like Roy I’m delighted to see action being taken, at last, against those papers which cynically drive a horse and coaches through the rules on pre-charge and pre-trial contempt.
They’re designed to ensure everyone gets a fair hearing untainted by any pre-trial publicity. Sadly too many papers have taken too many risks on this in the past and often got off on the basis that they can come up with an argument about only selling so many in the local area and therefore the risk of creating a “substantial risk” of “serious prejudice” is minimal.
That’s not the point. The law is there to avoid any risk and ensure everyone gets a fair trial. Even these papers.
Labels: contempt, newspapers
