The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Le Roux and others v Dey (South African Constitutional Court) [2011] ZACC 4
With the new libel reform proposals doing the consultation rounds it is enlightening to see how other jurisdictions strike the balance privacy and dignity on the one hand, and freedom of expression on the other. Continue reading
In January this year, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, committed the coalition government to the legislation, saying: ‘It is simply not right when academics and journalists are effectively bullied into silence by the prospect of costly legal battles with wealthy individuals and big businesses’.
Although the Bill is more like a codification than a radical reform, it contains a number of provisions which are of importance. This article looks at how some of its provisions would affect South African law. Continue reading
This is the second part of a four part post dealing with the Draft Defamation Bill and Consultation Paper published by the Government on 15 March 2011. It deals with truth, honest opinion and privilege. Part 1 of this post was published on 3 April 2011.
Clause 3 – New statutory defence of truth
Clause 3 of the Bill proposes the establishment of a new statutory defence of truth in the following terms: Continue reading
News
David Leigh’s Guardian article about the case of ZAM v CFW has generated another round of media outrage about “super-injunctions”. The mere mention of these two magic words – accurately or not – is sufficient to whip up a frenzy about the iniquities of anonymity and the wrongs of the “rich and powerful”. This is rarely accompanied by any analysis of the reasons given by judges for the making of such orders. Continue reading
“Nearly 30 years have elapsed since the last Government Committee on defamation, so that a review of the law is seasonable.” These were the words of one commentator writing in the 1976 Modern Law Review about the recent report of the Faulks Committee on Defamation. The author went on to observe that, “although succeeding in its aim of simplifying the law, the Committee has not taken the opportunity for any radical reform”. Continue reading
It has, once again, been a busy week in the “News of the World” phone hacking saga, both in Parliament and in the courts.
On Monday 28 March 2011, the “Guardian” also reported on the hearing the previous Friday before Mr Justice Vos in the case of Miller v NGN and Mulcaire and the retrieval of the lost email archive. It was noted that the “News of the World” revealed that its computers have retained an archive of potentially damning emails, which hitherto it had claimed had been lost. Continue reading
This is a Media and Information 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.
Latest Cases
Awdry, Bailey & Douglas v Kordowski [2011] EWHC 785 (QB) (1 April 2011). Tugendhat J struck out the defence of the operator of the “Solicitors from Hell” website in a libel action and granted a permanent injunction to prevent him from publishing the same or similar allegations against the claimant solicitors. Continue reading
This is the third of a three part post dealing with the key libel cases over the last twelve months or so in England and Wales. Part 1 was posted on 29 March 2011 and Part 2 on 30 March 2011.
Responsible reporting on matters of public interest
The Reynolds defence – or Reynolds/Jameel defence – is meant to provide proper protection for responsible reporting on matters of public interest. Continue reading
This week’s news release from the Ministry of Justice was headed “Clarke stamping out compensation culture fears”. It might have been headed simply “Clarke stamping out compensation”.
The paper talks of an “unwieldy justice system (which) is costing businesses millions of pounds and deterring individuals from using the justice system…” Continue reading
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