After the first month of the Hacking Trial, and with a five day recess, I’m taking a moment to reflect on a wider issue, revealed by evidence, that does not impinge on any way on the case against eight defendants, who deny all the charges against them. Read the rest of this entry »
What the Hacking Trial has revealed about the culture of Fleet Street – Peter Jukes
30 11 2013Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Old Bailey Trial, Peter Jukes
Categories : Journalism, Media, Phone Hacking
Case Law: Mitchell v News Group, Plebgate and costs budgets, The Sun off the hook for big bucks – David Hart QC
30 11 2013Mitchell v. News Group Newspapers ([2013] EWCA Civ 1537): We all know the story about how Andrew Mitchell MP may, or may not, have tried to barge past policeman in Downing Street with the memorable phrase “you’re f… ing plebs”. Like a lot of good stories, it may not be true, and like a lot of good stories it was picked up by The Sun. So Mr Mitchell sues The Sun in libel on the basis that it is untrue. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Costs, Plebgate. Andrew Mitchell MP
Categories : Libel
Politicians and the Press a Year after Leveson: Has Anything Changed?
29 11 2013The Media Reform Coalition has published, for the first anniversary of the publication of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into press standards, a dossier on the corrosive relationship between politicians and the press [pdf] as revealed by testimony to the Leveson Inquiry. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Media Reform Coalition, Politicians and Press
Categories : Leveson Inquiry, Media Regulation
Case Law, Strasbourg: Österreichische Vereinigung zur Erhaltung v. Austria, NGO has Article 10 right to access documents – Hugh Tomlinson QC
29 11 2013In a judgment handed down by the First Section on 28 November 2013 in the case of Österreichische Vereinigung zur Erhaltung, Stärkung und Schaffung eines wirtschaftlich gesunden land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Grundbesitzes v. Austria (application no. 39534/07), the Court of Human Rights has found a breach of an NGO’s Article 10 right to obtain information from a public authority. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Access to Official Information, Article 10, Court of Human Rights
Categories : Caselaw, Freedom of Information, Human Rights
Phone Hacking Trial: Hundreds of hacking calls made from ‘private wire’ inside NI HQ, jury told – Martin Hickman
28 11 2013Day 24: Hundreds of hacking calls were made from a “private wire” inside News International’s headquarters, the Old Bailey heard today.
Among those whose voicemails were accessed from the “generic” phone link at Wapping in east London were Katie Price, Tessa Jowell, celebrity PR advisor Alan Edwards and three Mail on Sunday journalists – Sebastian Hamilton, Dennis Rice and Laura Collins, the hacking trial was told. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: News International, Old Bailey Trial
Categories : Phone Hacking
The topsy–turvy world of newspaper regulation and government spies – Martin Moore
28 11 2013At the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice and Wonderland the March Hare upbraids Alice for claiming she can solve a riddle:“ Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare. “Exactly so,” said Alice.“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know.” Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Martin Moore, New Statesman
Categories : Media, Media Regulation
Appeal: Ethiopian journalists imprisoned on anti-terror charges seek donations to fund human rights case
28 11 2013Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu are Ethiopian journalists who have been awarded the UNESCO World Press Freedom Award and nominated for the 2013 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for their journalistic work. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Appeal, Ethiopia, MLDI
Categories : Human Rights, Journalism
Phone Hacking Trial: Prosecution,15 million NI emails are missing – Martin Hickman
28 11 2013Day 23: Fifteen million emails from Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group have been lost to police and other investigators, the hacking trial heard today. Prosecutor Mark Bryant-Heron explained that the records were wiped during technical changes before a fresh police investigation into phone hacking began in January 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Andrew Coulson, Emails, Old Bailey Trial, Rebekah Brooks
Categories : Phone Hacking
IPSO FACTO: No EU conspiracy for state control of the press (PS The PCC is useless) – Mike Jempson
27 11 2013After seven weary months and a correspondence running to more than 20,000 words, the Press Complaints Commission has made a final ‘adjudication’ about Andrew Gilligan’s ludicrous claim in the Sunday Telegraph last April that a motley bunch of academics and voluntary organisations are part of a European Union-funded conspiracy to hand control of the press to the state. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: MediaWise, Mike Jempson, PCC
Categories : Media Regulation
Phone Hacking Trial: Brooks explained how to hack phones at PM’s birthday party, jury is told – Martin Hickman
26 11 2013Day 22: Rebekah Brooks explained how to hack a mobile phone at a birthday party for the Prime Minister at a country house, the Old Bailey heard today. A close friend of David Cameron’s, Dom Loehnis, testified that Mrs Brooks had chatted about intercepting voicemails while he sat next to her during the celebration at the Prime Minister’s rural residence, Chequers, in October 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Old Bailey Trial, Rebekah Brooks
Categories : Phone Hacking