The Inforrm Blog recently had its first birthday. Yesterday we reached another milestone – 500 posts. We thought that it might be of interest to readers to highlight, once again, our most popular posts – along with some of the early, less visible ones which may be unfamiliar to those who have only recently started reading the blog. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: February 2011 (Page 4 of 6)
Though the law is on their side, it’s still an uphill battle for journalists seeking access to court exhibits
You can film it, but don’t show it to the public. Those were the instructions of a Quebec judge to journalists in the case of Stéphan Dufour, a man charged with helping his uncle to commit suicide. The judge was referring to a statement that Dufour made to police before he was charged, a statement captured on video Continue reading
Sarah Baskerville complained to the Press Complaints Commission that an article in the “Daily Mail” on 13 November 2010 intruded into her privacy. The article was entitled “Oh please stop this twit from Tweeting, someone“. Continue reading
The recent critics of Strasbourg judicial activism will, doubtless, be pleased by the Court’s latest Article 10 decision. Free speech campaigners may have more mixed views. In the case of Donaldson v United Kingdom ([2011] ECHR 210) the Fourth Section held that the application of a serving Republican prisoner alleging a violation of his rights under Article 10 and Article 14 (discrimination) was inadmissible. Continue reading
The Metropolitan Police has today provided a news briefing updating the position in relation to its new phone hacking investigation “Operation Weeting”. The briefing makes clear that investigators have identified “some individuals who were previously advised that there was little or no information” held by the police relating to them. The position of these individuals is being reviewed.
In the commotion surrounding the Christian hotel gay discrimination case, it is easy to forget that there is a long-standing principle that English courts will not decide matters of religious doctrine. This principle has been in play in a run of recent cases involving an Indian holy man and libel claims against journalists.The most recent case was brought by Dajid Singh Shergill, a UK-based Sikh activist suing the Panjab Times in relation to 3 articles published in the summer 2008, relating to His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj (Jeet Singh), an Indian based preacher. Continue reading
In this feature we revisit older posts which remain of current interest. In this updated series of posts from May 2010 Hugh Tomlinson QC considers the relationship between freedom of expression and freedom of information in European, international and domestic law. Part 1 was posted on 5 February and Part 2 on 6 February.
The Strasbourg and international case law shows that that the right to freedom of information can now properly be described as a “human right” – an essential aspect of the right to freedom of expression. This is understandable, both in terms of the standard formulation of freedom of expression as including a right to “receive” information and in practical terms. Continue reading
We reported yesterday that the Supreme Court has given Times Newspapers permission to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in Flood v Times Newspapers ([2010] EWCA Civ 804). Permission has been granted on condition that the “Times” agrees to pay Mr Flood’s costs in any event. The “Times” has now provided us with copies of the relevant Supreme Court appeal documents: sections 5 and 6 of its Notice of Appeal and its submissions on the proposal to grant conditional permission to appeal. Continue reading
“When I read Anthony Lester’s Bill back in May my first thought was that this is a Bill for Journalists. A Bill for the Media”. Those are not my words but those of Senior BBC Journalist, Kevin Marsh in a recent debate on libel reform.
It’s not that surprising. Lester’s Bill was conceived out of years of relentless campaigning by media organisations. The Government is now drafting its own Bill, using this as the starting point. Continue reading
News
The most important case of the week was Monday’s “anonymity” decision of the Court of Appeal in the JIH case. Edward Craven’s Inforrm post about the decision attracted a record number of hits. Unfortunately, neither the decision itself nor this post appears to have been read by many journalists who produced characteristically inaccurate and one-sided analyses of the case the following day (see our post here). Continue reading
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