Friday 13 July 2007

Internet challenge to contempt of court law

Today read a report carried by the New York Times on how British media might commit the contempt of court in their coverage of the terrorist attack at Glasgow airport.
According to the report, the British police said that the photos of those arrested over the botched attack at a Glasgow airport should not be published. however, what confuses me is that the names of those arrested have been published, so what is the difference it make by prohibiting the publication of the photos.
It reminds me of the trial on the alleged raping of a 17-year-old girl by seven English Premiership footballers in 2003. The judge had asked media not to name any of the suspect footballers to ruin the future trial. Even the broadcasters like BskyB had to take care not to carry any football chants that name those alledgedly involved. But the NY report only stressed that no photo of the suspect terrorist should be published. In my view, if the name has been published, it has posed the risk that the future trial could be ruined by the premature media trial.
But I agreed with the NY report in questioning whether the contempt of court law on media is out of step with the new media era. Old media are still subject to those restrictions, but those information on the subjects of the crime investigation could be easily found at the internet. So the new media is challenging the law, which probably should be put under review to make it more relevant to the current times.

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