Imagine how the press would be dealing with the Leveson Report and its sequel if an industry other than their own was involved. Here is what has happened. A whole industry has been roundly condemned by an official public inquiry, with the judge declaring that ‘on too many occasions’ responsibilities had been ignored and concluding: Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: December 2012 (Page 4 of 6)
One of the most entertaining pieces of evidence that Lord Justice Leveson heard during his inquiry’s hearings into the culture, practice and ethics of the press concerned UK Prime Minister David Cameron‘s understanding of the popular sms abbreviation LOL. He had thought it stood for “lots of love“, and had used it to sign off his texts to Rebekah Brooks (sometime Editor of the News of the World, and the Sun, and CEO of News International), until he discovered that it in fact stands for “laugh out loud” (see transcript for 11 May 2012, p76 (pdf)). Given his immediate rejection of the main press regulation recommendations in Lord Justice Leveson’s Report (also here), published on 29 November 2012, he is obviously laughing out loud at the Leveson Inquiry, not showering it with lots of love. Continue reading
The hoax telephone call to the King Edward VII Hospital in which two DJ’s blagged private information about the Duchess of Cambridge has become the main item on the news today after the apparent suicide of the nurse who was duped by the call. The Australian radio station, 2Day FM, whose DJs were responsible for the call told the “Daily Telegraph” that “it had not broken any laws“. But, as pointed out by Dr Chris Pounder on the Hawktalk blog the position under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) has not been considered. Continue reading
Are Australian courts steadily subverting free speech? Media law academic Dr David Rolph thinks the High Court’s recent introduction of reasonableness into the defence of qualified privilege is another incremental step in the wrong direction.
Over the past few years, there have been concerns about real or perceived threats to freedom of speech in Australia. Continue reading
This week it was reported that the editors of the national newspapers had made great strides towards accepting the vast majority of Leveson’s recommendations. The Guardian reported that the broadsheet and tabloid editors ‘agreed at a breakfast summit to 40 of Leveson’s first 47 proposals – paving the way for the creation of a new regulator with powers to levy fines of up to £1m’. Continue reading
The fascinating case of X v Facebook Ireland Ltd ([2012] NIQB 96) comes to light in the midst of general astonishment at the minimal attention paid in the Leveson Report to the ”wild west” of the internet and the question of social media regulation.
This short judgement demonstrates that a careful step by step judicial approach – with the cooperation of the defendant of course – may be the route to a range of common law tools that protect individuals from the internet’s incursions in a way which no rigidly formulated statute is capable of doing. Continue reading
As part of its tireless campaign against any form of effective press regulation, this week’s Mail on Sunday had “bombshell verdict” on the Leveson report. Leveson assessor and Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti, had apparently told the Mail that “his law to gag press is illegal as it breaches Human Rights Act”. For good measure, the Liberty Director was reported as “blasting” Labour leader Ed Miliband’s ‘hasty and ill-considered’ endorsement of the report. This damning indictment of the Leveson Report was quickly picked up and repeated across the media. Continue reading
The judgment in MXB v East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust ([2012] EWHC 3279 (QB)) raises the short but important point that orders made under section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (“the CYPA”), which prohibit the reporting of proceedings in a manner likely to lead to the identification of a child or young person concerned in them, may not extend to online reporting. Continue reading
A poll for the Sunday Times last weekend asked people whether they thought David Cameron was opposing ‘new laws’ to underpin press regulation (a) ‘as a matter of principle‘ or (b) because ‘he does not wish to jeopardise his relationship with newspaper owners and editors’. 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
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