Court reporting
• Sir: It appears that the contempt laws relating to the reporting of court proceedings are once again under assault. One small section of the realm alone can hope to gain from any 'liberalisation' of these laws — the press.
With the most stringent precautions the law was unable to prevent Mr Evans and the Sunday Times gangsterising Distillers Company into paying some form of bogus 'compensation' for a 'crime' of which it had never been proved guilty. In that case the sentimental baying of an anti-judicial mob demonstrated the frailty of the rule of law in England. How can this country, if it values its good name and its liberty, consent to extend the power of the press in this respect?
In a free society the, pseudo: constitutional role of the press is to check government, not to castigate Col. Brooks, leer at Janie Jones or bully respectable private corporations.
C. N. Jordan Secretary, Oxford University Monday Club, University College, Oxford
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