The industry in moral espionage has moved well beyond elite transgressions into the tragic moments of ordinary members of the public. It has brought private detectives firmly into the mainstream of muck, and out of the shadows. It has merged with, and to some extent created, politicians’ need for ‘spin’, for personal image management and careful policy dissemination. It has linked in with other policing agencies, so moving us nearer the complete ‘surveillance society’. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Year: 2012 (Page 48 of 60)
Many lawyers had hoped that the days of ill-thought-out legal reform and bad legislation – a favourite pastime of the last Government – were long since gone. But the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill suggests otherwise, particularly when it comes to libel actions, access to justice and conditional fee agreements. Continue reading
News: Rebekah and Charlie Brooks reported to be among six new phone hacking arrests – Laura Sandwell
It is reported that former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks and her husband, the racehorse trainer, Charlie Brooks, are among six new Operation Weeting arrests today. The six were arrested this morning as part of the inquiry into the phone hacking at News of the World and its aftermath. The arrests took place in a series of co-ordinated raids between 0500 and 0700am. Metropolitan Police officers arrested five men and one woman on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977, and are searching premises connected with these arrests. Continue reading
The discovery of Glenn Mulcaire’s hoard of notebooks is among the more memorable details of the phone hacking scandal. The information they contained revealed the extent of News Group Newspaper’s illegal activities, and the company’s interest in figures from across public life. But the value of the scrutiny of Mulcaire and NGN’s relationship which the affair has prompted goes beyond its effect on the media to the wider exposure of another unregulated industry which frequently profits from personal information, that of private investigators. Continue reading
Lord Hunt says he is winding up the Press Complaints Commission, of which he is chairman, and will launch a new body “with teeth”. He has discussed this planned body at the Leveson inquiry and elsewhere, but his ideas have at least four significant weaknesses. Continue reading
The Mirror Group was refused permission by the Supreme Court to appeal its contempt of court conviction for coverage of Christopher Jefferies in 2011. Press Gazette reports here; the Independent reports here. It was reported that the application against the Divisional Court decision was rejected on the grounds “that it did not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court“. It also held that “this was a very clear case of contempt of court”. Continue reading
“Hacked Off” has, today, launched a campaign to persuade the Leveson Inquiry to release the files from”Operation Motorman“, the 2003 investigation in data protection breaches by newspapers. In a Press Release issued today, Hacked Off points out that the files have been seen by the Leveson Inquiry, by lawyers for national newspapers and by the newspapers themselves but remain secret from the public and the victims. Continue reading
On Wednesday 7 March 2012, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights heard the application in the Article 10 case of Animal Defenders International v United Kingdom. A 17 judge court (with 3 substitute judges) presided over by Belgian Judge, Françoise Tulkens, heard oral submissions from Martin Chamberlain on behalf of the United Kingdom Government and Hugh Tomlinson QC on behalf of the Applicant. There were no questions from the bench. Judgment was reserved and is likely to be delivered later in the year. Continue reading
The recent decision in Tamiz v Google (High Court, Eady J) comes at a very important time for the debate on the liability of Internet intermediaries. The draft Defamation Bill is being considered in the UK (new Government response), Ireland’s comprehensive review of copyright law is taking flight (excellent consultation paper just out – more on that soon), and the European Commission is preparing a ‘horizontal initiative’ on the liability provisions (articles 12-15) of the E-Commerce Directive. Continue reading
The Finkelstein (and Ricketson) Independent Media Inquiry report released on 28 February 2012 is a substantial and well researched document with a dangerously flawed core recommendation.
An impressive distillation of legal, philosophical and media scholarship (compulsory reading for journalism students) and worthy recommendations for simpler codes and more sensitivity to the needs of the vulnerable are overshadowed by the proposal that an ‘independent’ News Media Council be established, bankrolled by at least Aus$2 million of government funding annually. Continue reading
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