In McCann and Healy v. Portugal ([2022] ECHR 725)(in French only), the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that the applicants’ Article 8 rights had not been violated by the publication of a book, a documentary programme, and a newspaper interview alleging that the applicants’ daughter had died inside their holiday flat and that the applicants had hidden her dead body and fabricated her abduction. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: November 2022 (Page 1 of 2)
The review conducted by Cambridgeshire Constabulary has found that the arrest of four journalists covering Just Stop Oil protests by Hertfordshire Police earlier this month may have constituted “unlawful interference” in their freedom of expression. Continue reading
Tech platforms use recommender algorithms to control society’s key resource: attention. With these algorithms they can quietly demote or hide certain content instead of just blocking or deleting it. This opaque practice is called “shadowbanning”. Continue reading
SLAPPs, Serious Harm, and the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 – Ciaran O’Shiel and Tim Carson
While coverage of strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, has been amplified by several high-profile defamation actions in the UK and US in recent months, public discourse on the topic has been gathering pace since the assassination, in October 2017, of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who, at the time of her death, had 47 open defamation cases in progress against her. Continue reading
Following the arrest of three journalists covering Just Stop Oil protests last week, Hertfordshire Police Chief, Constable Charlie Hall, introduced new measures to protect legitimate media reporting and commissioned an independent review of the arrests. Continue reading
In her State of the Union on 15 September 2021, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, declared: “Media companies cannot be treated as just another business. Their independence is essential. Europe needs a law that safeguards this independence – and the Commission will deliver a Media Freedom Act in the next year.” And on 16 September 2022 the European Commission put forward a number of measures to protect freedom and pluralism in the EU by introducing its European Media Freedom Act proposal (COM2022/457). Continue reading
Going viral was once a dream for creative types hoping to make it big on YouTube. But in the age of livestreaming and public shaming, it’s now the stuff of nightmares. TikTok trends, pranks and even “acts of kindness” have led to people finding accidental viral fame without their consent, or even their knowledge. Continue reading
This is the second part of a two part post considering the report of the House of Commons Justice Committee on “Open justice: court reporting in the digital age”. The Part One the post can be found here. Continue reading
Over the past few years – especially in the first year of COVID-19 and the emergency move to remote proceedings – it was frustrating to witness bold claims about the provision of access to court hearings and reporters’ rights when the evidence on the ground was that reporters and other observers were having difficulties entering courts and accessing virtual hearings. Continue reading
The Chief Constable of Hertfordshire has promised an investigation into the arrests of journalists covering climate protests, amid accusations the force was threatening press freedom and an intervention by Downing Street. Continue reading
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