Day 29: Former News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson was discharged from the phone hacking trial on Thursday 12 December. Mr Justice Saunders told the jury a “consensus” of medical evidence suggested he was unfit to participate in the current case. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: December 2013 (Page 3 of 5)
The European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, has just published a free e-book entitled “IRIS Themes – Freedom of Expression, the Media and Journalists: Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights” [pdf]. Continue reading
Amid all the attention that scholars and activists have paid to media ownership over the years, the transparency of ownership has been neglected. This is odd, because the public availability of accurate and up-to-date information about ownership is – undeniably – an essential component of democratic and pluralist media systems. Continue reading
Day 28: Rebekah Brooks and Piers Morgan bantered about hacking into each other’s phones at the 35th birthday party of their fellow tabloid editor Andy Coulson, the Old Bailey was told yesterday. Former lawyer Ambi Sitham told the phone hacking trial that she had gone to a steak restaurant in Balham, south London, for the party as the girlfriend of publicist Neil Reading, who knew all three editors. Continue reading
On 28 November the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), the UK’s regulator for certain information rights (data protection and freedom of information) published a draft document entitled ‘Looking Ahead, Staying Ahead: towards a 2020 vision for information rights’, as well as an accompanying consultation questionnaire for stakeholders. Continue reading
The rationale for public intervention on media ownership is twofold: to prevent excessive media concentration and the accumulation of power in the hands of a few, and to promote media pluralism (the presence of a number of different and independent voices) and diversity in the media (different political opinions and representations of culture within the media). Continue reading
Day 27: Police did not tell a senior member of the Royal Household that a large number of Buckingham Palace phone directories had been found at the home of the News of the World’s royal editor for six years, the hacking trial heard yesterday. Continue reading
Based on his latest research that examined civil society proposals for media plurality measures and models their suggested ownership limits against current market conditions, Justin Schlosberg of Birkbeck, University of London argues that such limits and thresholds could limit media power with minimal impact on the market. Continue reading
The Law Commission has produced its eagerly awaited Report on juror misconduct and internet publications, following extensive consultation. The Commission had been urgently tasked with considering reform in this area, following a number of high profile contempt cases involving errant jurors and eager publishers. Continue reading
Day 26: Rebekah Brooks was asked to authorise a cash payment to a “serving police officer” while she edited Britain’s best-selling national newspaper The Sun, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday. Continue reading
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