Reporting Restriction

English criminal courts operate on the open justice principle: the Judicial College's guide, Reporting Restrictions in the Criminal Courts, records that 'in recognition of the open justice principle, the general rule is that justice should be administered' in public, so that proceedings can be observed and reported. Reporting restrictions are the recognised exceptions to that rule, imposed either automatically by statute (for example, restrictions protecting the identity of children involved in proceedings) or at the discretion of the court where publicity would create a serious risk to the fairness of the trial or would cause disproportionate harm to a victim or witness.

The guide distinguishes automatic reporting restrictions, which apply without any court order simply because the case falls into a defined statutory category, from discretionary reporting restrictions, which a judge must specifically consider and order, weighing the public interest in open reporting against the competing interest that justifies restriction. Restrictions can cover reporting a person's name or identifying details, postponing publication of certain evidence until a trial concludes, or prohibiting reporting altogether in narrow circumstances, and the guidance stresses that these restrictions bind not only traditional media but also online publishers and individual social media users.