Is upholding a British court publication ban;
The New York Times said on Tuesday it had blocked British Internet readers from seeing a story detailing elements of the investigation into a suspected plot to blow up airliners between Britain and the United States.
The story was published in Monday’s paper. Under British laws, courts will punish media organizations that publish material that judges feel may influence jurors and prevent suspects receiving a fair trial.
“There has not been a prosecution for contempt over anybody publishing outside this jurisdiction (Britain), but logically there is no reason why there should not be,” said Caroline Kean, partner at UK media law firm Wiggin.
While restricting what British media can report has been effective in the past, the Internet has made it far harder to stop information published by foreign outlets, which may breach Britain’s laws, from being seen by UK readers.
Because there’s no higher responsibility for today’s American journalism than that of ensuring a foreign accused terrorist gets a fair trial…. except for ensuring they first get a fair warning.
