The recent decision in the case of McEvoy v Michael ([2014] EWHC 701 (QB)) provides a helpful practical example and reminder of the breadth and value of the defence of fair comment (now honest opinion pursuant to s.3 of the Defamation Act 2013) in protecting political speech.
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: March 2014 (Page 2 of 8)
Day 78, Part 2: Rebekah Brooks joked that she would “break the legs” of anyone poaching her long-serving PA Cheryl Carter, the hacking trial heard today. Continue reading
As we noted last week, on Thursday 20 March 2014 the Turkish Telecommunications Authority issued orders blocking access to Twitter. Those orders have now been overturned by the Administrative Court in Ankara. Continue reading
Day 78, Part 1: Rebekah Brooks’s PA had no idea there was a police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World until the week the paper closed, the Old Bailey heard today. Continue reading
That media ownership rules have been progressively relaxed in many democracies is certainly not news. But that Australia, with one of the most concentrated media markets in the world, is thinking of further deregulation is astonishing.
Day 77: Rebekah Brooks’s PA today admitted errors in her account to police about the removal of seven boxes of notebooks central to a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice against her and her former boss.
In the case of Pentikäinen v. Finland the European Court of Human Rights found that a Finnish press photographer’s conviction for disobeying the police while covering a demonstration did not breach his freedom of expression.
Day 76: Rebekah Brooks’s PA was urgently trying to contact a News International archivist on the day the News of the World’s closure was announced because she wanted to withdraw boxes containing clippings about her career in the beauty industry, the hacking trial heard today.
The first privacy trial since July 2012 began at the High Court yesterday before Mr Justice Dingemans. The claim is brought by the musician Paul Weller, on behalf of this three children, against Associated Newspapers Limited over photographs of the children which appeared on Mail Online.
Since 2010 the media have escalated their campaign for major reform to the law of defamation, to remove the perceived ‘chilling effect’ on journalism of the threat of libel actions. Continue reading
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