Online news archives 'risk contempt'

19 February 2008

Online news providers should be forced to remove sensitive news stories from their archives during some trials, the former Lord Chancellor has told the BBC.

In an interview for Radio 4's Law in Action, due to be broadcast on Tuesday night, Lord Falconer is reported to have argued that the state should step in during cases that attract intense media interest.

The law states that publishing material that creates a "substantial risk of serious prejudice" in legal proceedings – for instance, details of a defendant's past convictions – is in contempt of court.

Legal restrictions on the details that journalists can report in criminal cases tend to come into force once a case has become 'active' – usually when a suspect has been arrested or a warrant has been issued for their arrest.

However, news that is written about a case before it is considered active often contains material that would later be considered prejudicial.

Lord Falconer is said to have argued that the attorney-general should identify when news outlets should temporarily remove these kinds of news stories in the run-up to, and during, a trial.

The BBC also reports a suggestion by Lord Falconer that search engines be asked to push prejudicial material out of the top of the search results.

However, many web analysts have pointed out that attempts to eradicate information across the web are likely to prove impossible – as recently exposed by the gagging of Wikileaks.

Category: Online journalism, Search engines, Social media