Contempt of court

Contempt of court covers various activities, which can be said to undermine the integrity of the legal process. A person guilty of contempt can be fined or imprisoned. Contempt of court may impinge on media law in a number of situations:-

Publication of material which might prejudice a fair trial
An obvious example is the publication of an accused's criminal record. The law is primarily governed by the Contempt of Court Act 1981 ("CCA 1981"), which makes it an offence to publish material which creates a substantial risk of serious prejudice to pending court proceedings.

Breach of a court order
Courts may make orders banning publication of all or part of proceedings. Such orders are often challenged by the media. Publications in defiance of such orders are a contempt of court.

Restrictions concerning minors
There are a number of statutory provisions restricting the reporting of proceedings involving minors, the breach of which is a contempt of court. A similar provision applies to complainants in rape cases.

Disclosure of sources
Occasionally, court orders are made compelling a journalist to disclose his or her sources. A judge can only do so where disclosure is necessary in the interests of justice or national security, or for the prevention of disorder or crime (s.10 CCA 1981). Failure to disclose a source after an order has been made is a contempt of court.

Publishing jury deliberations
s.8 CCA 1981 makes it a contempt to "obtain, disclose or solicit" any part of a jury's deliberations.

Scandalising the court
This is an anachronistic common law contempt, which has been defined as "any writing published which is calculated to bring a court or a judge into contempt or to lower his authority". Despite the apparent breadth of the offence there have been no recent prosecutions in the United Kingdom.