So we’ve all followed the story about this man who tried to murder his two children this whole week. Times of Malta and pretty much all other news outlets and blogs/whatever have named the man as Salvatore di Prima several times in their articles throughout the search for him:
https://timesofmalta.com/article/father-arrested-three-days-alleged-attack-children.1125272
Now he’s finally been found and arrested, and the courts have banned his name from being published: https://timesofmalta.com/article/live-blog-father-appears-court-arrest-attacks-children.1125366
So how does this law work, if it’s even a law at all? Since the articles naming the man are still up, does this mean all these news outlets are breaking the law and will be taken to court? Or are they legally obligated to edit/delete all mentions of this persons name? Am i committing a crime by naming the person in this Reddit post?
Asking as someone born in a country where media doesn’t publish the names of anyone unless a sentence has been handed out by the courts, i just don’t understand how this law is supposed to work in parallell with a media climate in which it feels almost like a contest between different outlets who will be the first to print out anyone’s full name who’s involved in a crime.
What does "cannot be named by court order" mean?
byu/WhatsHeBuilding inmalta
Posted by WhatsHeBuilding
3 Comments
The court can ban media houses from publishing the names of accused and victims of a crime. It’s very common in domestic violence cases where it is easy for the victims to be identified if their family member is the accused.
This case is jarring because the accused’s face and name were all over the media as he was wanted by police.
If the accused’s name is not subject of a media ban, outlets can publish names and faces as it is of public interest.
The police issued the suspect’s photo & name when he was wanted in connection with his childrens’ attempted murder (i.e. it wasn’t discovered or leaked by the media). This isn’t the norm in an investigation, and such an extraordinary move is usually only done when the police thinks the public’s help will be crucial in locating the suspect.
Once the perpetrator was arrested & charged, the court issued the decree to ban the names of all parties involved not to protect him, but in the interest of the victims especially since minors are involved. Obviously since the perpetrator and the victims are related, then the ban on publishing names extends to him.
Needless to say the media can only abide by a court order once it’s issued, so you’ll see that only articles & reportings from that point forward stopped publishing his name.
the law is old it was not meant when internet was created. basically they cannot mention his name on new articles as far as i know.