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Gag order
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007) |
A gag order (or "suppression order") is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.
Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial. They are also a tool to prevent media from publishing unwanted information on a particular topic.
A Criminal Court, for instance, will issue a gag order on the media if the judge believes that potential jurors in a future trial will be influenced by the media reporting or speculation on the early stages of a case. Another example might be to ensure police are not impeded in their investigations by media publicity about a case.
A gag law is intended to limit freedom of the press, as by instituting censorship or restricting access to information. In the United States, a court can only order parties to a case not to comment on it; a court has no authority to stop unrelated reporters from reporting on a case. Most statutes which restrict what may be reported have generally been found unconstitutional and void.:c However, the gag provisions of the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act have been upheld[citation needed].