Christopher Butler & Harriet Errington examine the court’s discretion to exclude media representatives from family proceedings
It is a fundamental principle at the heart of the rule of law in England and Wales that court proceedings should be held in public and decisions reported publicly. Somewhat at odds with this, however, can be the right to respect for family life. Special considerations must apply to family proceedings due to their sensitive nature; hence the Family Procedure Rules 2010 include provisions dealing with media access to the family courts. This article assumes that the family division judge is not sitting in open court. In such circumstances one would need to apply for the case to be heard in private.
Where proceedings are being heard in private, rr 27.10 and 27.11 of the Family Procedure Rules state that accredited media representatives have the right to attend family proceedings but that right is subject to the court’s discretion. Furthermore, even if the court chooses to allow accredited media representatives to attend there are still various limitations to bear in mind. These include exclusion from accessing private
