Contemptuous

Having read Clive Coleman's piece in the Times earlier this week, headlined online as ‘Kick out our contempt laws’ and less insistently in print as ‘Will the internet kill off our creaking contempt laws?’, I was only too aware of the pressure being put on the Contempt of Court Act by technological advances.

However, reading the tabloids on many days, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the laws are already nothing more than quaint memory of an up-tight past. This morning was no exception, with the News of the World following up Friday’s recovery of Shannon Matthews and the arrest of her supposed captor with this rumor-mongering relating to the man being questioned by police, which leaves few aspects of his character and previous behaviour unquestioned.

Shouldn't the press leave it to the courts to decide rather than forcing their hand?