Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 is a notorious blot on the statute book, epitomised by the ultimately unsuccessful prosecution of Paul Chambers (the Twitter Joke Trial) under the first limb of the section. That concerns messages of a grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing character sent by means of a public communications network under section 127(1). Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: June 2014 (Page 6 of 6)
The Phone Hacking Trial has completed its twenty seventh week of hearings. On Tuesday 27 May (Day 109), the Court heard a closing speech by David Spens QC on behalf of Clive Goodman (later described by Andy Coulson’s counsel as a “second prosecution speech”). Continue reading
Give newspapers more time to put their houses in order.’ Sounds familiar? That was the plea of Labour’s Lord MacGregor, the then Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, in January 1992. He was responding to the announcement that the Tory Government had appointed lawyer Sir David Calcutt to review the efficacy of press self-regulation. Continue reading
A tsunami of misinformation has overwhelmed the ECJ’s ruling on Google: high-tech corporate America, NGOs and parts of the UK media are claiming that the judgement constitutes shocking defeat for the concept of freedom of expression. In support of this claim, these organisations are publishing statements that are simply not true. Continue reading
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