The threat of contempt of court chills freedom of speech in Britain. Restriction orders are often issued verbally by the judge, and prosecutions are pretty arbitrary. What areas of reporting are allowed or disallowed is a very grey area, so the media errs on the side of silence, encouraged by threats from the police and prosecutors.
The contempt law also denies the defendent the right to make their side of the case heard in the media, which allows miscarriages of justice to be covered up.
Studies on jury behaviour in New Zealand and the US have shown that juries are actually unlikely to be swayed by prejudicial reports that they might have been exposed to. Of course, such a study would be impossible in Britain, as jurors are banned from revealing the details of their deliberations.
When it comes to justice, there ain't much freedom of speech in Britain.
As far as I know, you can only obtain CCTV camera footage under UK privacy law if you were deliberately targeted for filming. You cannot request footage from a passive camera that is filming a "general scene".
Slashdot Mirror
Considering that OJ was found innocent, it's hard to argue that media coverage prejudiced his trial.
The threat of contempt of court chills freedom of speech in Britain. Restriction orders are often issued verbally by the judge, and prosecutions are pretty arbitrary. What areas of reporting are allowed or disallowed is a very grey area, so the media errs on the side of silence, encouraged by threats from the police and prosecutors.
The contempt law also denies the defendent the right to make their side of the case heard in the media, which allows miscarriages of justice to be covered up.
Studies on jury behaviour in New Zealand and the US have shown that juries are actually unlikely to be swayed by prejudicial reports that they might have been exposed to. Of course, such a study would be impossible in Britain, as jurors are banned from revealing the details of their deliberations.
When it comes to justice, there ain't much freedom of speech in Britain.
As far as I know, you can only obtain CCTV camera footage under UK privacy law if you were deliberately targeted for filming. You cannot request footage from a passive camera that is filming a "general scene".
s _and_the_Data_Protection_Act_Good_Practice_Not%E2% 80%A6.pdf
http://www.ico.gov.uk/documentUploads/CCTV_System