Full Description
The essays discuss the restrictions imposed by contempt of court and other laws on media freedom to attend and report legal proceedings. Part I contains leading articles on the open justice principle. They examine the extent to which departures from that principle should be allowed to protect the rights of parties, in particular the accused in criminal proceedings, to a fair trial, and their interest in being rehabilitated in society after proceedings have been concluded. The essays in Part II examine the topical issue of whether open justice entails a right to film and broadcast legal proceedings. The articles in Part III are concerned with the application of contempt of court to prejudicial media publicity; they discuss whether it is possible to prevent prejudice without sacrificing media freedom. Another aspect of media freedom and contempt of court is canvassed in Part IV: whether journalists should enjoy a privilege not to reveal their sources of information.
Contents
Contents: Introduction; Part I The Open Justice Principle: Courts, transparency and public confidence - to the better administration of justice, Beverley McLachlin; The principle of open justice: a comparative perspective, J.J. Spigelman; A public right to know about public institutions: the 1st Amendment as sword, Anthony Lewis; Name suppression: an adjunct to the presumption of innocence and to mitigation of sentence, Roderick Munday; Automatic reporting restrictions in criminal proceedings and Article 10 of the ECHR, Ian Cram; Democracy and the demystification of courts: an essay, David A. Anderson. Part II Cameras in the Court-Room: Courts on television, Martin Dockray; Cameras in the courtroom - not without my consent, M. David Lepofsky; A comparative analysis of 1st Amendment rights and the televising of court proceedings, Daniel Stepniak. Part III Prejudicial Media Publicity: Punishing the press: using contempt of court to secure the right to a fair trial, Stephen J. Krause; You say 'fair trial' and I say 'free press': British and American approaches to protecting defendants' rights in high profile trials, Joanne Armstrong Brandwood; Pre-trial publicity and its treatment in the English courts, David Corker and Michael Levi; Fundamental rights, fair trials and the new audio-visual sector, Clive Walker; Empirical and legal perspectives on the impact of pre-trial publicity, T.M. Honess, S. Barker, E.A. Charman and M. Levi. Part IV Journalists' Privilege Not to Reveal Sources: Protecting journalists' sources: Section 10, Contempt of Court Act 1981, Stephanie Palmer; The priestly class: reflections on a journalist's privilege, William E. Lee; Protection against judicially compelled disclosure of the identity of news gatherers confidential sources in common law jurisdictions, Janice Brabyn; Name index.
