Delivering the annual Society of Editors Lecture this evening, Baroness Buscombe described so-called "super injunctions" as a "constitutional outrage."

It follows the recent episode in which a national newspaper was prevented from reporting a Parliamentary question by an all-embracing injunction.

In her speech, which opened the Society's annual conference in Stansted, the Baroness called on ministers to do something about it without delay.

In a wide-ranging lecture, she said technological developments in the way in which people communicate amount to "an historical and permanent shift in favour of free expression over the forces of censorship and restraint."

But at the same time, she suggested editors should themselves show restraint and avoid what she called "shouty headlines."

"You are not always right, and I know that you do not claim to be," she told the industry gathering.

"But the power of a shouty headline is intense, believe me. It can spook all but the most robust of politicians. And the result can be bad legislation and a steady erosion of freedom."

Read Baroness Buscombe's speech in full here.

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