Yahoo Movies BBC facing contempt proceedings after broadcasting High Court proceedings on the evening news
The BBC could face a hefty fine for contempt of court after broadcasting a recording of a High Court case on the evening news.
The broadcaster admitted a “collective brain freeze” over the incident last November, when a six-second clip of the judge in a judicial review case was used in a BBC South East Today report.
The High Court heard today the BBC had been granted online access to a hearing, involving a challenge to a Surrey County Council planning decision, which was held over Microsoft Teams.
The courts have been widely using virtual hearings during the pandemic to limit the numbers of people in court buildings.
The whole hearing had been recorded by a member of BBC staff, with the short clip featuring Mr Justice Holgate used as “wallpaper” for the news report.
Under contempt law it is illegal to make and publish recordings of court proceedings.
“It seems to have been some sort of collective brain freeze about what was going on here and what was allowed”, said Mr Justice Warby.
Trevor Burke QC, for the BBC, told the contempt hearing: “There’s no satisfactory explanation or reasonable excuse how this arose.
“It’s plain with the benefit of hindsight, and should have been obvious, this simply shouldn’t have happened.
“A number of people accessed and compiled the story while broadly aware of the the law of contempt, and simply did not join up the dots.”
He suggested the confusion may have come from the court hearing appearing similar to daily Zoom calls, adding: “Not a single voice raised the issue.
“One would like to think if one voice was raised, the penny would have dropped and there would have been a quick realisation, but unfortunately no one raised their hand and said ‘are we allowed OK in doing this?’.
The news report was broadcast on the 6.30pm and 10pm news shows, the court heard, going out to around 500,000 viewers.
Mr Burke said reminders about contempt are now circulated to BBC staff whenever a court hearing is being covered.
He added that the judicial review case at the centre of the breach was not affected by the incident, and the BBC quickly apologised and wiped the report from its archive.
Lady Justice Andrews and Mr Justice Warby have reserved their judgment on the case to a later date.
Contempt of Court breaches can be punished with unlimited fines and up to two years in prison.
