The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog

Month: January 2022 (Page 1 of 3)

Law and Media Round Up – 31 January 2022

Netflix is to face a defamation claim from chess grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili for a false statement made in the fictional series The Queen’s Gambit, which stated that Gaprindashvili “never faced men.” The Georgian chess player said that this has “tarnished (her) personal and professional reputation” in the eyes of millions of viewers worldwide. In refusing Netflix’s application to have the case thrown out, a Californian Central District Court judge said that there was no evidence of “precluding defamation claims for the portrayal of real persons in otherwise fictional works.” The BBC, Daily Mail and Chess.com have covered the ruling. Continue reading

The Unbearable Loudness of Cancellation: How the Court of Appeal failed free speech in Miller v College of Policing – Paul Wragg

Freedom of speech is quite the enigma. Just ask Laura Murray. When Rachel Riley retweeted, with embellishments, Owen Jones’s comment that if you don’t want to be pelted with eggs, you shouldn’t be a Nazi, moments after Corbyn had himself been pelted, his stakeholder manager lambasted Riley. Not unreasonably, Murray took Riley to be both condoning violence toward politicians and to be labelling Corbyn a Nazi. Continue reading

BBC funding: licence fee debate risks overlooking value of UK’s public broadcasters – Tom Chivers and Stuart Allen

The proposed two-year freeze in the TV licence fee has prompted a lively debate about BBC funding. The move puts huge pressure on the Corporation’s finances, which have taken an estimated 30% real-term cut since 2010. The National Audit Office suggested in its December 2021 report that further budget reductions may lead to more repeats and fewer original high-end programmes. Continue reading

Law and Media Round Up – 24 January 2022

The case of Banks v Cadwalladr concluded before Steyn J in the Royal Courts of Justice this week, with Cadwalladr arguing that her belief that the “covert relationship” between Banks and the Russian government was reasonable; the defence of public interest applies. She argued the meaning that the court ascribed to the words complained of (that Banks had received Russian money, or lied about receiving Russian money) was not what she intended. Rather, she only meant to imply about the extent of his contacts with Russia. Judgement is reserved. Inforrm published an article on the closing submissions here. Continue reading

What Way Forward on Information Rights Regulation? The UK Information Commissioner’s Office Launches a Major Consultation – David Erdos

The UK Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has launched a major consultation on three draft documents related to its regulatory approach: an overarching Regulatory Action Policy, Statutory Guidance on Data Protection Act 2018 Action  and Statutory Guidance related to its Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) Powers. These documents would replace the ICO’s Regulatory Action Policy produced in 2018 which sat under its 2017-2021 Strategic Plan (but has yet to be updated). Continue reading

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