Request for site to document reporting restrictions
Posted by Evan Fell on November 29, 2007 at 12:30 PM
Simon Westrop, the head of the legal department at Newsquest has called for a website that will document reporting restrictions that have been placed on court cases, in an effort to avoid the breaching of court orders by the media.
The request followed the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald being fined £3,000, ordered to pay £750 in compensation to a boy and £150 in court costs.
The paper accidentally breached the Children and Young Persons Act by identifying a 15-year-old boy involved in a stabbing case at Plymouth Magistrates Court.
The paper had contacted Cornwall and Devon Police press office about the case but had not been told about a court order, which was made verbally in court.
Westrop said, “If there were a central website where all court orders of this kind were lodged then it would be much more convenient for everybody and there would be no excuse for the press then in having missed an order, especially when you are 100s of miles away from the court concerned.
Scotland already has such a centralized system and The Society of Editors is also calling for the same system.
Source: Press Gazette
The paper accidentally breached the Children and Young Persons Act by identifying a 15-year-old boy involved in a stabbing case at Plymouth Magistrates Court.
The paper had contacted Cornwall and Devon Police press office about the case but had not been told about a court order, which was made verbally in court.
Westrop said, “If there were a central website where all court orders of this kind were lodged then it would be much more convenient for everybody and there would be no excuse for the press then in having missed an order, especially when you are 100s of miles away from the court concerned.
Scotland already has such a centralized system and The Society of Editors is also calling for the same system.
Source: Press Gazette
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