Mr Justice Tugendhat handed down judgment today after the trial of preliminary issues of privilege and malice in the libel action, Qadir v Associated Newspapers Limited, heard on 26-27 July 2012 ([2012] EWHC 2606 (QB)). Novel issues concerning the media’s reporting of litigation and of court hearings, along with malice, were determined in what will be considered to be a landmark judgment. It is anticipated that the new Defamation Act will significantly broaden the scope of statutory privilege defences so this decision is likely to be of considerable importance in the future. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: October 2012 (Page 5 of 5)
The story of teacher Jeremy Forrest and his cross-channel flit with a 15 year old pupil Megan Stammers has put the teaching profession firmly into the headlines. But potentially taking teachers out of the headlines is the Education Act 2011 which, when it came into force on Monday 1 October, provided that teachers accused of a criminal offence against their pupils be automatically entitled to anonymity. Continue reading
In a recent post I expressed the view that there was “something particularly wrong and distasteful about kiss-and-tells.” I explained that I was referring to situations in which money was paid to someone for a story about something private which is only of interest to the tabloid because it relates to a well-known person. . The journalist and researcher Judith Townend commented on my post, asking “how should financial transactions of private information be managed in a new system of regulation?” This is my response. Continue reading
The law of privacy has once again been thrust into the spotlight in the aftermath of the publication of topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, by French magazine Closer, rapidly followed by a newspaper in Ireland, and magazines in Italy, Norway and Denmark. Continue reading
Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust. It collects information automatically from the websites of British news outlets. Articles are indexed by journalist, based on the byline to the article. Keywords and statistics are automatically generated, and the site searches for any blogs or social bookmarking sites linking to each article. Continue reading
Mr Justice Tugendhat, the judge in charge of the jury list and the de facto chief media judge in England and Wales, has delivered a lecture on the role of specialist judges in deciding cases in the field. The Judge was giving the keynote address, to an audience of media lawyers and others, at the 5RB Media and Entertainment Law Conference in London on Thursday 27 September 2012. Continue reading
If British newspapers represent public opinion fairly then you would think the public – or at least Telegraph readers – strongly supported the press’ own plan for self-regulation and would die in a ditch to prevent anything else being put in place. Continue reading
On 27 September 2012 the Ministry of Justice Published its second statistical report on privacy injunctions, covering the 6 month period January to June 2012. It is noted that, during this period, there were 9 new applications for interim privacy injunctions and 9 applications to continue existing injunctions. There were 4 cases in which the High Court considered whether or not to issue permanent privacy injunctions and no privacy injunction appeals. Two of the cases involved the media although there appears to have been only one classic “media privacy injunction” application (which was unsuccessful on the return date). Continue reading
The Daily Telegraph is worried about freedom. In an editorial about the Leveson inquiry, which is due to report in the next few weeks (probably November, according to rumour), the paper warns: ‘There is a real danger that, because some newspapers allegedly behaved in a criminal manner, efforts will be made to reduce the whole press to an emasculated cipher of high-minded opinion.’ Continue reading
We begin, once again, with phone hacking. At a hearing last week in the managed litigation before Mr Justice Vos it was disclosed that there are now 154 claims before the courts and that the Metropolitan Police have given disclosure of documents to a total of 620 potential claimants. Since the “second round” of the litigation began in February 2012 News Group Newspapers have settled 80 actual or threatened civil claims, and one claim in its “compensation scheme”. Continue reading
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