Opposition to family court media access mounts
Government plans to open up the family courts further to the media are facing mounting opposition, The Times has reported.
According to the newspaper, senior judges, the children’s courts service and groups such as the NSPCC believe the reforms “would lead to disclosure of sensitive details and would put the privacy of children and their families at risk”.
The Ministry of Justice’s proposals – contained in the Children, Schools and Families Bill currently before Parliament – would allow the media to report on family proceedings more broadly.
However, they have been criticised by Parliament’s joint committee on human rights as potentially being in conflict with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division, told the committee that even with safeguards assuring anonymity, “quite a close circle of people in an area will know who the reports are about, so it is important that the details of the matter are not reported and the press do not have access to them.”
The Times suggested that last-minute amendments by Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor, might not be enough to get the measures through the House of Lords.
Recent MoJ research has also revealed that few journalists have taken up the opportunity to gain access to family courts since it first became possible in April 2009.
A survey of court staff found that:
- 75% said no journalists had attended hearings at their court since the rule change
- 15% said journalists had attended hearings only once and did not come back
- Just 2% reported media attendance between one and five times a week
- 11% said that media attendance had led directly to an article being published.
