Media law news this week was dominated by the Tulisa privacy injunction and the long-awaited judgment in Flood v Times Newspapers. Tulisa used a YouTube video, which has now attracted over 3.5 million views, to “set the record straight” following the leak and publication of a private video. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: March 2012 (Page 2 of 7)
Former New Zealand test cricketer Chris Cairns has succeeded in his “Twitter libel” claim against the former Chairman of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi. In an judgment handed down today ([2012] EWHC 756 (QB)), Mr Justice Bean comprehensively dismissed the defendant’s defence of justification. Continue reading
The original version of this post, which was available on the blog on 6 March 2012, contained a factual inaccuracy relating to the findings of the Information Commissioner’s Office Reports into “Operation Motorman”.
Solicitors acting for Associated Newspapers Limited have asked us to make clear that the ICO Reports did not specifically deal with phone hacking. Continue reading
Module two of the Leveson Inquiry continued this week with regional police forces, police press officers and crime reporters from across the country giving evidence. There were three days of evidence. Former criminal investigator Dave Harrison started the week with surprising evidence, claiming the News of the World had jeopardised the 2006 investigation into a series of murders in Ipswich. Continue reading
In September 2011 we had a post about Baglow v Smith, a potentially very significant decision in Canada. The first instance decision of Annis J suggested that an apparently defamatory statement made in a debate on a blog or internet forum may not be found to be defamatory if the plaintiff previously engaged in the debate but did not respond to the statement despite having the opportunity to do so. Continue reading
The Report of the Joint Committee on the draft Defamation Bill, published in October 2011, identified a number of areas where it considered greater clarity was required. For the most part, the Government in its Response [pdf], published in February 2012, has accepted the recommendations made. Continue reading
Practitioners have, again, been reminded in strong terms of the need for strict compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules when applications are made for “without notice” injunctions. It has again been pointed out that notice is a matter of “elementary” justice and that, if it is not given, CPR 25.3(3) and PD 25A para 4.3 require the service of evidence stating the reasons why notice has not been given. Continue reading
Can a State prohibit the publication of false news? And if it couldn’t under normal circumstances, should it be allowed to do so under exigent circumstances, such as a state of emergency? This question is now before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Dareskizb v. Armenia. Continue reading
Earlier this week we commented on an interim privacy injunction obtained by singer and X-factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos to restrain the publication of a purported “sex tape” on the Internet. At that stage, relying on reports of earlier statements by her management, we reported the injunction as being in “false privacy“. Tulisa has now posted a clip on You Tube (see below) to her 1.7 million followers on Twitter, to “set the record straight”. Continue reading
You would expect a debate about journalism to feature some pretty creative use of metaphor, but this is getting confusing. Given a ‘blank sheet of paper’ to create ‘a press regulator with teeth’, PCC Chairman Lord Hunt has actually used the back of an envelope to sketch out a regulator with arms. Continue reading
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