LONDON – Media organisations could be prosecuted for contempt of court for reporting comments by MPs who use House of Commons parliamentary privilege to identify people protected by court injunctions, attorney general Dominic Grieve said last night.
“The privilege to report parliamentary proceedings . . . does not necessarily extend to all publications which are not published by order of parliament.
“It is likely that it does extend to a fair and accurate report of proceedings in parliament, but just because something has been said does not mean it can be repeated out of context.”
Mr Grieve has taken legal actions against newspapers for breaching contempt of court rules, particularly in the case of Chris Jefferies, who was wrongly connected with the murder of Joanna Yeates in Bristol last Christmas.
Footballer Ryan Giggs and former head of Royal Bank of Scotland Fred Goodwin were identified as having had extra-marital affairs by MPs using parliamentary privilege.
