Media Access to Family Proceedings

New rules about media access to Family proceedings came into force on 27th April. These rules allow accredited representatives of the press, and other individuals approved by the court to be present at most Family Court proceedings.

Since it is estimated that there are over 200,000 family hearings every year this gives plenty of scope for reporting in the media subject to appropriate safeguards.

The objective of introducing the new rules is to encourage scrutiny of the Family Law system, with a view to securing transparency and public confidence, allowing the media to consider the system at first hand. Publishing intimate details of individual cases is not the main aim and there are reporting restrictions, but it could lead to the disclosure of some interesting details.

Although the new rules have been viewed by some as a step forward for the media, it has been argued that the new measures do not go far enough, and will not help to create a transparent system. Some have suggested that the rules could encourage ‘trial by PR’ between divorcing spouses, and that cases not considered to be newsworthy will escape public scrutiny.

Since the new rules were introduced the High Court has already given a ruling on a husband’s request to exclude the media from his divorce dispute. The husband had argued that he could not give “full and frank evidence” about his financial affairs if it was to be reported in the press. The husband’s request was firmly rejected by the Judge who concluded that the press should be allowed to attend.

Kim Aucott, Family Law expert at George Davies Solicitors “In my experience, clients often find attending court hard enough without the added concern that details of their lives will be published for all to see. If this encourages more out of court settlements this can only be a good thing”.