Reporting Restrictions – Family – Children – Applications by Media to vary/discharge order – Costs
The press applicants sought to report parts of a hearing concerning a dispute within 2 families about whether their children should have the MMR vaccine. The application was unsuccessful and all the families sought their costs against the press applicants.
Whether it was appropriate to make an order for costs.
Given a previous provisional order that parts of the trial should be heard in public the press should not be penalised in costs for making an application to that effect.
Despite the fact that successful press applicants are rarely awarded the costs of lifting unjustified reporting restrictions (see Ex parte News Group Newspapers Ltd [2002] EMLR 160 the court made it clear that there was a considerable costs risk to the press in intervening at the eleventh hour.
