Before we attack the problem, we must understand that the idea of “disinformation” – and that’s what we’re talking about here – is very old one. During the 1930s, New York Times reporter Walter Duranty was found to have filed completely false stories covering up the barbaric cruelties and famine committed in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: January 2018 (Page 1 of 3)
The struggling economics of news organisations these days means that it’s cheap to report debates and controversies taking place on social media and so these rows, especially when they involve well-known people, get more prominent coverage in newspapers and news bulletins than they deserve. Continue reading
It was announced on 23 January 2018 that the Competition Markets Authority has reached a provisional view that the Fox/Sky deal is not in the public interest. The decision was widely reported in the press, including in the Guardian and the Financial Times. Continue reading
On Tuesday 30 January 2018, the UK Supreme Court (Lords Mance, Kerr, Sumption, Reed and Hodge) will hear the appeal of Cartier International AG & Ors v British Telecommunications Plc & Anor. Continue reading
French president Emmanuel Macron’s recent pledge to make a new law to tackle perceived fake news has touched nerves in some corners with its potential impact on freedom of expression. Continue reading
Inforrm reported on a large number of defamation cases from around the world in 2017. This is my selection of the most legally and factually interesting cases from England, Australia and the United States from the past year. Continue reading
That was the name of a seminar organised by the Society of Editors and hosted at the offices of the Telegraph Group in London, on 18 January 2018. But the crisis of the title seemed to have more to do with the state of local journalism and the decline of the local press, rather than anything happening in the courts. Continue reading
Social media and digital executives in newsrooms already have a tough job connecting their content to consumers via social media, but Facebook’s proposed changes in the algorithms of its ‘newsfeed’ are going to make it a lot harder. Social networks offer immense opportunities for reaching vast new audiences and increasing the engagement of users with journalism. The most important platform in the world is about to make that more difficult. Continue reading
In Howard Kennedy v The National Trust for Scotland [2017] EWHC 3368 (QB), the High Court considered two complex issues: one relating to the doctrine of forum non conveniens and the other to the CPR provisions on service of a claim form. Continue reading
On Thursday 18 January 2018 it was announced that phone hacking claims against the News of the World and the Sun which had been due to begin a 4 week trial had settled. The BBC reported that “TV stars settle ‘six figure’ hacking claims“. Continue reading
Recent Judgments
© 2026 Inforrm's Blog
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑