Media Law Year 3 – Reporting Crime and the Courts

Media Coverage

There are three major factors to court reports that every journalist should ensure:

• Fair
• Accurate
• Contemporaneous 

There are two key danger areas: prejudice and contempt.

• Prejudice – publishing facts or allegations about a defendant or case, before or during a trial, which could affect its fairness – by influencing jurors or potential jurors.
• Contempt – a breach of the rules of crime and court reporting. It is a contempt to publish material which creates ‘a substantial risk’ of serious prejudice to active proceedings.

When accused of a crime, you have the ‘presumption of innocence’ – your guilt must be proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ with clear evidence, rather than proving that they’re innocent.

Once a person has been arrested the case is ‘active‘ under the Contempt of Court Act 1981.The media organisation can be heavily fined if they breach the Act.

When someone has been arrested, a journalist should check whether or not the person is voluntarily helping the police or if they’re under arrest, so the newsroom knows if a case is active or not.

No one should be held under arrest for more than 24 hours, and if not charged they are to be released. However if they’re suspected of an indictable offence they can be held for an additional 12 hours.

You can report on seven bits of information about the person arrested:

• Name of court and the magistrates names
• Names, ages, home addresses and occupations of the defendants / witnesses
• The charge in full or summarised
• Names of solicitors and barristers
• The date and place to which it is adjourned (if it is)
• Any arrangements as to bail
• Whether legal aid was granted

You, of course, cannot record anything in courts, however you can use ‘live, text-based communications’ – tweeting, emailing, texting.

We do have restrictions, but we have legal defences for reporting on court stories. We have our right to freedom of expression and public interest.

types of criminal offences and courts

There are three types of criminal offences:

• Indictable only – serious offence (murder, rape, robbery). Initially Magistrates, quickly on to Crown court where they can be sentenced.
• Either-way – this can be dealt by either Magistrates or Crown.Less serious (theft, sexual assault, assault causing grievous bodily harm).
• Summary – minor offences (common assault, drunkenness, speeding). These are dealt with by Magistrates – no need to be tried by jury.

The court system is split in two – criminal and civil.

CRIMINAL = Magistrates > Crown Court > Court of Appeal (criminal) > Supreme Court

CIVIL = Tribunals or Magistrates > County Court > High Court > Court of Appeal (civil) > Supreme Court

defining criminality

• actus reus = potentially criminal act
• mens rea = guilty intention

The prosecution must prove both of these elements.

Some offences are of ‘strict liability’ – strictly limits the defences to the charge (e.g. it doesn’t matter if they didn’t realise they were doing it). This applies to journalists as they cannot use ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to…’ as a defence against breaches of the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

Journalists shouldn’t be too lax when it comes to definitions of crimes – if they make an error it could lead to a libel action.

Sources of Law

Common Law – derives from judges in the Middle Ages – common as in common to the entire realm.

Legal precedent –judges decisions recorded.

Statute – acts of Parliament

European Court of Justice/Court of Human Rights – Article 10 ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression.’ Article 8 – the right to respect for privacy and family life.

case studies

The Daily Mirror was fined £50,000 and the Sun £18,000 for articles published over killing of Joanna Yeates –  reports about Jefferies were “so exceptional, so memorable” that it presented a “risk of serious prejudice” to any potential future trial of Yeates’s killer ( Guardian article on the case ).

Kasim Davey posted a comment on Facebook whilst being a juror on a case, he was charged with contempt of court. ( BBC article on the case ).