The biggest media story of the week concerned the resignation of Peter Oborne, The Daily Telegraph’s chief political commentator. His resignation letter attacked the paper’s management and owners over the coverage of the HSBC tax story, claiming they regularly suppressed stories about the bank in order to keep its valuable advertising account. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: February 2015 (Page 2 of 6)
‘Revenge porn’, the term coined for the unauthorised sharing of private sexual photographs or videos, often carried out by spurned lovers over the medium of the Internet, has been criminalised in England and Wales under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (‘the Act’) which received Royal Assent on 12 February 2015. Continue reading
The plaintiff and four defendants were poker players used to playing high stakes games: hands worth thousands of dollars. In the middle of 2012, the plaintiff and the first defendant went to Las Vegas for a tournament and shared a room. Evidently for them, what happens in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. Continue reading
When newspapers hide the truth from their readers to avoid displeasing advertisers, as Peter Oborne alleges the Telegraph has done, they are not breaching the Editors’ Code of Practice. Continue reading
For some years there has been debate between the judges about whether anonymity orders should be made when very seriously injured people’s claims are settled and the court is asked to approve the settlement. Continue reading
In a recent case management conference in the ongoing Yeo v Times Newspapers libel litigation (also see our blog ‘The End of Juries in Libel Trials?’), Mr Justice Warby QC gave a written Judgment ([2015] EWHC 209 (QB)), which provides some guidance on the issue of costs budgeting in libel cases. Continue reading
The Ched Evans rape case has polarised opinion, so it’s time for some straight talking. The woman in question is entitled to remain anonymous under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992. The legislation makes it quite clear that the victim in a case of rape is entitled to anonymity in the press. Continue reading
Peter Oborne’s resignation statement as chief political commentator of the Telegraph has touched a nerve for a whole number of reasons.
First, simply because of its rarity. Very few journalists are confident enough to speak out against their employers or to refuse to write stories that they don’t agree with. Richard Peppiatt’s resignation from the Daily Star on the basis of its sexist and anti-Muslim coverage was an extremely unusual case of a journalist publicly outing his bosses. Continue reading
Rihanna’s successful claim against Topshop, which prevents it from selling t-shirts displaying a photograph of her, has been reported as being ‘a test case about the ability of celebrities to control their public image’ (see The Guardian’s report of the judgment). It was, in fact, a passing off claim and, as the Court of Appeal made clear in their decision ([2015] EWCA Civ 3), there is in English law no right to control one’s image. Continue reading
On Tuesday 17 February 2015 Peter Oborne resigned as chief political commentator at the Telegraph, with an article published on OpenDemocracy claiming, among other things, that Continue reading
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