COURT REPORTING

Evening Star, Issue 22682, 23 June 1937, Page 9

COURT REPORTING

LIABILITY OF NEWSPAPERS POSITION DEFINED IN SYDNEY Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright! SYDNEY, June 22. The Chief Justice (Sir Frederick Jordan) to-day, in a judgment in the Full Court, defined the liability 'of newspapers which publish summarised versions of court proceedings, leading t» contempt of court. Sir Frederick said that, provided the summaries are fair and accurate, the newspapers enjoy the same protection from contempt of court as do verbatim reports. “As a general rule the courts cannot accommodate all who desire to hear the proceedings in certain cases; consequently the public have to depend on the newspapers for their reports* and as long as the published account is fair, accurate, and in good faith, without malice, nobody can complain. T hold, further, that a summary cannot he regarded as unfair by reason only of the fact that it has failed to draw attention to a feature to which na prominence was given before the magistrate in the lower court.” The judgment arose out of an action against the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ by Richard Terrill, who complained that the published summary of the court proceedings omitted to mention features favourable to him.