It has long been a central principle of law in the UK that justice should not only be done, but that justice should be “seen to be done”. This concept is also sometime known as open justice. One of the ways that this is achieved is by holding court hearings in public.
According to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights everyone charged with a criminal offence has the right to a “fair and public hearing”. Therefore trials should be held in such a way that the public has access to them. The starting point for most types of criminal and civil hearings is that they should be open to the public. However, the right contained in Article 6 is not absolute and there are a number of situations where other considerations take precedence to a public hearing.
There are many types of hearings where the public or reporters are routinely prevented from attending – these include cases which deal with issues of national security or which involve children. The public could be excluded from a whole trial or just from part of it, depending on the particular circumstances. Theoretically, the public or press could be excluded if their presence could be damaging for the private lives of anyone involved in the hearing or if it would have a detrimental effect on public order or morals.
Most magistrates’ court cases are held in public. Even in the youth courts, where most members of the public are excluded from hearings, a news reporter will usually be able to attend. Indeed cases and judgments may usually still be reported even if the public were not allowed to attend the hearing, although sometimes the names of participants are withheld. However, the magistrates do have the power to order either that the hearing should take place in private or that reporting restrictions relate to that hearing.
Generally speaking, in practice, news reporters would only be present at a hearing if it was in some way newsworthy – the vast majority of magistrates’ court hearings take place in the absence of any journalists. I assume, therefore, that you have a reason to believe that your case is of interest to the media.
To depart from the fundamental principles of public hearings and open justice, the magistrates would have to be persuaded that the hearing had to be held in private for the proper administration of justice. As mentioned above, this could apply in cases involving children. It is difficult to give a definite answer to your question without knowing the details of your particular circumstances. However, whilst in principle it may be possible for the public to be excluded from your hearing, there is probably no right to have your hearing held in private.
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