The first day of evidence in the Leveson Inquiry was essential viewing for media lawyers and journalists. It can now be seen online in morning and afternoon sessions. Four witnesses were heard and questions were put only by two of the Counsel to the Inquiry, Robert Jay QC and Carine Patry Hoskins – some formulated by the other core participant representatives. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: November 2011 (Page 2 of 5)
While the media should not be above the law, it is important to recognise the need for a general public interest defence.
As the Leveson inquiry begins to hear its first evidence this week, the media will take a battering. Hearing the details of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone will bring home just how unnecessary it was. Continue reading
“The press provides an essential check on all aspects of public life,” were Lord Justice Leveson’s opening words to his Inquiry last Monday. “That is why any failure within the media affects all of us. At the heart of this Inquiry, therefore, may be one simple question: who guards the guardians?”
The overall question may be simple, but the evidence-gathering exercise is certainly not – as previous attempts to unravel the phone hacking scandal have shown. The Inquiry first day also featured a statement from the Counsel to the Inquiry, Robert Jay QC, as reported by us here. Continue reading
There’s a slogan echoing around the streets of major cities around the globe at the moment: ‘Whose streets – our streets!’ It’s the mantra of the ‘occupy’ movement, expressing the frustration and injustice – particularly economic injustice – and the sense that all kinds of things that should be ‘ours’ have been taken out of ‘our’ control.
The same could – and should – be said about personal data. The mantra of the occupy movement has a very direct parallel in the world of data, which is why I think we should be saying, loud and proud, ‘Whose data – our data!’ Continue reading
Serious questions about the compatibility of law of defamation in India with the right to freedom of expression have been raised by a remarkable case in which damages of £12.5 million (Rs 100 crore that is, Rs 1 billion) were awarded to a retired Supreme Court judge over a television broadcast. Continue reading
This was the first week of Leveson proper. It was the week of opening statements by Counsel to the Inquiry and core participants. On Monday Robert Jay QC provided an overview of the Inquiry’s purposes and concerns. On Tuesday, it was the turn of News International. It stated it could not guarantee the paper had stopped phone hacking after the arrest of Clive Goodman in 2007. Continue reading
On 11 November 2011, Mr Justice Tugendhat granted an injunction to prohibit the harassment of actress Ting Lan Hong and her baby, the daughter of the actor Hugh Grant, by paparazzi photographers. On 18 November 2011 he handed down a judgment giving his reasons ([2011] EWHC 2995 (QB)). Continue reading
On Tuesday 15 November 2011 Mr Justice Tugendhat made an order closing down the “Solicitors from Hell” website. Under the terms of this order the site’s operator, Rick Kordowski, was required to remove the Website from the Internet “forthwith”. Continue reading
Tuesday night’s panel at Westminster University couldn’t even agree on the virtues of television journalism, let alone whether the PCC was dead in the water. The Media Society event marked the release of Professor Steven Barnett’s new book, ‘The Rise and Fall of Television Journalism‘, in which he argues the press would be strengthened and protected if it learnt from television regulation. Continue reading
The Supreme Court gave several judgments on First Amendment matters last term, and these are helpfully rounded up by the ABA Journal here. While no significant decisions in this area have been handed down since our last round up, the Court is, as the ABA article suggests, showing a clear interest in cases with First Amendment implications. Continue reading
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