The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
It has not been a good few months for the Press Complaints Commission. Its Chairman, Baroness Buscombe, has been successfully sued for libel. Its continuing refusal to be subject to the Freedom of Information Act (as indicated by its absence from the recent statement of the Ministry of Justice on this issue) shows that it is still as committed as ever to a lack of transparency about its procedures and activities. Continue reading
At 10.00am, Strasbourg time tomorrow, 18 January 2011, the Court of Human Rights will give a written judgment on an application brought by MGN Limited against the United Kingdom. This was lodged more than 6 years ago, on 18 October 2004 (Case No. 39401/04). In this original application MGN Limited contested the decision of the House of Lords in Campbell v MGN ([2004] 2 AC 457) that it breached Ms Campbell’s privacy by the publication of an articles in February 2001 in which it divulged details about her drug addiction therapy. Continue reading
In our post on how defamation actions were disposed of in 2010 we had a list of 46 Statements in Open Court in libel actions in that calendar year. The figures were provided by Mr Benjamin Pell who has now drawn our attention to the “Benjamin Pell Statistic of the Month” in the David Price Solicitors and Advocates Media Law Newsletter for March 2008 which provides the figures for statements in open court from 2003 to 2008. Continue reading
In this regular feature we draw attention to the last week’s law and media news and next week’s upcoming events. If readers have any news or events which they would like to draw attention to please add them by way of comments on this post.
News
The News of the World phone hacking saga continues (although it is still notably absent from large sections of the press). On Friday it was reported that prosecutors are to conduct a “comprehensive assessment” of all material collected by Scotland Yard linked to the phone hacking scandal. Continue reading
If you Google “Lawyers for Media Standards”, this is the first entry you will see. It is an article on the Guardian website (by Roy Greenslade) which only served to reinforce the reasons for setting up the group.
Lawyers for Media Standards (“LMS”) was formed just one year ago in response to concerns at the one sided media reporting of the so called “debate” about libel reform and in particular the issue of costs and success fees in CFA cases. Continue reading
The Media Standards Trust has now posted video footage of the MST/Inforrm event on 11 January 2011. This can be accessed on You Tube in a number of parts from the image below.
On 5 January 2011, we set the first “Inforrm” Media Law Quiz – 22 tough questions arising out of the Media Law Cases of the past 12 months. Thank you to everyone who submitted entries. Assiduous reading of the blog enabled many to spot the trick questions and the other pitfalls laid by the quizmaster. After careful analysis of the answers there was a clear winner – with an impressive 100% of correct answers – Mr Benjamin Pell. Continue reading
This is a Media Law Update covering the last week prepared by the Legal Information Team at Matrix Chambers, which they have kindly agreed to make available to readers of Inforrm.
Case Law
Cambridge v Makin [2011] EWHC 12 (QB). 12 January 2011, Tugendhat J. A libel action arising out of an email sent in the course of a campaign in support of a motion of no confidence in the directors of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters Ltd (NRPSI) which meant: Continue reading
The appeal in the case JIH v News Group Newspapers ([2010] EWHC 2818 (QB)) was heard today by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lady Justice Smith. We have already blogged about this decision which was a judgment handed down on 5 November 2010 following an application for a consent order in a privacy action. Although the parties agreed, as part of the terms of settlement, to a continuation of the anonymity provisions already granted, the judge declined to continue the anonymity order. Continue reading
Libe
l law isn’t on the National Curriculum, but it’s something that will become increasingly relevant to UK citizens, whatever their educational or training background. That’s because more and more of us are publishers now, whether through email groups, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts or blogs. Defamation is a tricky part of English law anyway, made even more complicated by online technology. Continue reading
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