UK Government Arrests Journalist for Reporting on Court Case

[CroakandDagger]

Free Tommy Robinson.

[RAGINGWOMBLE]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/com ... her_court/

"In short, Mr. Yaxley-Lennon, turn up at another court, refer to people as "Muslim paedophiles, Muslim rapists" and so on and so forth while trials are ongoing and before there has been a finding by a jury that that is what they are, and you will find yourself inside. Do you understand?"


This is what Robinson was told in 2017 when he was given a suspended sentence.

[CroakandDagger]

It's funny how the police can put someone inside in a single day when they put their minds to it, but they leave these nests of paedophiles alone for decades and let thousands of british girls get raped by immigrant gangs.

If you had to speculate, do you think it's because British Police are partial to a preteen girl now and then themselves, because they're being bribed, or simply because they are the agents of an out-of-touch tyranny?

[Telamor]

Triggering your suspended sentence is funny like that. Rules were made clear to him. He could have waited a few weeks and it would have been fine. Cool your heels here Croak.

[CroakandDagger]

He's been unjustly persecuted from the word go.

We could pretend otherwise if you like, but it wouldn't be genuine.

[leon1122]

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are dead in the U.K. There is no reason why a journalist shouldn’t be allowed to stand outside a courtroom and report on the proceedings going on inside.

[Telamor]

I thought you two were fans of innocent until proven guilty?

[CroakandDagger]

Yep. I also support freedom of the press.

But when a government would rather trump up charges against journalists and lock them away for speaking the truth than enforce the law, it ceases to be a legitimate authority in my opinion.

[Octavious]

The rules regarding the reporting of trials are quite clear and well known to Mr Robinson. His actions are no more a principled stand for freedom than that of a rebellious schoolgirl making her skirt shorter than the rules allow. The aim has nothing to do with a belief that the rules are unjust, instead simply being about being seen to be fighting the powers that be in the hope it will impress people.

[peterlund]

Ignore this since croak who I ignore started it.

[CroakandDagger]

He said nothing that had not already been reported by other journalists.

[Jamiet99uk]

Tommy Robinson is not a journalist. He is fash scum. His actions were clearly in contempt of court. If he isn't willing to respect British laws and British values he should leave our country.

[CroakandDagger]

You first, traitor.

[Incrementalist]

When reporting restrictions go into effect, it's a gift to demagogues like Robinson because their message becomes the only game in town.

Doubling down on it by attempting to blackout reporting on Robinson himself made it even worse.

[CroakandDagger]

He did nothing wrong.

[leon1122]

The rules regarding the reporting of trials are quite clear and well known to Mr Robinson.

Honest question: Why don't you think journalists should be able to report on a trial from outside the court? He didn't disturb the proceedings, and he wasn't trying to incite violence. Charges like "disturbing the peace" are the euphemisms of totalitarian dictatorships like Communist China to sow fear and justify oppression.

[Octavious]

The right to a fair trial is paramount. If a judge believes that the publication of certain details may seriously prejudice a case he may prohibit reporting until a verdict is reached, as he did here. If anyone, be they a serious journalist or thug like Tommy, ignores this they are in contempt.

I genuinely don't understand what the problem is.

[CroakandDagger]

"The right to a fair trial is paramount," is it?

Then maybe you'll do me a favour and explain how the government telling Tommy's lawyer that he was going to be released so that they didn't travel up to defend him so that he had to rely on an incompetent public defender in the juryless secret trial he was put through is in any way "fair".

[TrPrado]

Contempt of court isn't a free speech issue. Trying to influence juries in his way is an impediment to justice, and every country has laws against it. Any courtroom reporter from any country knows this sort of thing.

[Incrementalist]

Contempt of court isn't a free speech issue. Trying to influence juries in his way is an impediment to justice, and every country has laws against it. Any courtroom reporter from any country knows this sort of thing.

I believe in the US they sequester the jury, not the entire country, when reporting might influence the outcome.

The media circus is allowed to rage around, for instance, the O.J. Simpson trial, but the jury is kept in isolation for the duration of the proceedings so their judgment is not affected.