Defamation and Privacy
18.4.1 An individual or corporation can sue for damage to their reputation over material that is published about them. This area of law is called defamation or libel and can have serious financial consequences if we get it wrong. Whilst a number of possible defences are available, it is important to note that when relying on the truth of what was published, it is the defendant (or defender in Scotland) who generally has to prove that it was true.
Individuals can take legal action to enforce their right to privacy, including asking the court to grant an injunction (or ‘interdict’ in Scotland) to stop true stories based on private information being made public. All legal entities including corporations may also have enforceable rights to keep information confidential. In these cases, the court will seek to balance the right to privacy or confidentiality against the media’s right of free expression and the right of the public to be informed.
Legal Rights to Anonymity
18.4.2 Victims and alleged victims of sexual offences, human trafficking offences and female genital mutilation have a legal right to anonymity. The rules regarding anonymity in these cases are complex and the right of anonymity cannot always be waived. Teachers also have a legal right of anonymity in some circumstances when an allegation of an offence is made concerning a pupil.
(See Section 6 Fairness to Contributors and Consent: 6.3.26-6.3.31 and Section 8 Reporting Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour: 8.3.33-8.3.37)
Reporting Restrictions
18.4.3 There are a number of situations in which reporting restrictions either apply automatically or can be specifically ordered by a court.
Automatic restrictions apply to:
- reports of preliminary hearings in criminal proceedings. What can be reported is very restricted
- reports of proceedings in Youth Courts. In particular, we must not publish anything likely to identify someone under 18 as involved in Youth Court proceedings
- family proceedings and Court of Protection proceedings (which may be heard in a number of courts including magistrates’ courts, the County Court, the Family Division of the High Court, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court). In particular, we must not publish anything which is likely to identify any child as being involved in such proceedings.
These restrictions can be lifted or varied by a court.
Some of the more common reporting restrictions which may be ordered include:
- orders preventing the identification of under-18s involved in proceedings before an adult court
- postponement orders, preventing publication of reports of proceedings, usually until after the conclusion of related proceedings
- anonymity orders, where the court has allowed a person’s details to be withheld.
Any queries involving legal proceedings in Scotland should be referred to the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Legal Director, Scotland.
(See Section 8 Reporting Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour: 8.3.13)
Obligations Under Terrorism Legislation
18.4.4 There are obligations under terrorism legislation on all people, including journalists, to disclose information regarding terrorist activity to the police as soon as reasonably practicable. Failure can amount to a criminal offence. There is also a wide range of powers for the police and other authorities to obtain information from journalists as part of a terrorism investigation.
(See Section 11 War, Terror and Emergencies: 11.3.21)
Contempt
18.4.5 Contempt of court is a criminal offence. Contempt can take many forms. The aim of the law is to prevent interference with legal proceedings in the UK. It protects proceedings in all courts and tribunals in the UK which carry out judicial functions.
Statutory contempt law bans the publication of material which creates a substantial risk of seriously prejudicing or impeding ‘active’ legal proceedings. The risk of causing serious prejudice is highest when the proceedings involve a lay jury, for example, in serious criminal cases.
The ‘active’ period in criminal legal proceedings starts with the granting of an arrest warrant, the arrest of a suspect or the issue of a summons (in Scotland a complaint) or indictment. This may be well before a person is charged.
Serious prejudice to a criminal case might be caused by, for example, the publication of previous convictions.
Accessing Illegal Content
18.4.6 There are offences regarding accessing and disseminating indecent images and information related to terrorism which can present difficulties when undertaking certain investigations.
Bribery
18.4.7 It is illegal under the UK’s Bribery Act to give or receive a bribe anywhere in the world and there is a separate offence of bribing a foreign public official.
Data Protection
18.4.8 Data protection breaches in some circumstances can give rise to criminal sanctions as well as fines. In addition, data breaches which may result in a high risk of adversely affecting individuals’ rights and freedoms must be reported to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours.
Where there may have been a data breach, a data breach form on Gateway must be completed or the matter must be referred to Information Rights, who will assess if the breach meets the legal threshold for reporting to the Information Commissioner.