The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
What do farm animals have to do with the Australian Constitution? Should the public know what happens in abattoirs and farms? Do we have the right to publish footage of what happens to animals in slaughterhouses? Should governments be able to make laws criminalising it? How do we best protect the privacy of farmers and prevent trespass? Continue reading
When it comes to online safety—or its flip side, online harms—many countries are grappling with the problem. What is the role of government in establishing guidelines and regulations for the protection of citizens, particularly vulnerable segments of the population, from a range of harms perpetrated by anti-social and even criminal elements via the internet? What is the role of “internet intermediaries”, the internet distribution and social media platforms that the perpetrators use to attack their victims? Continue reading
Inforrm reported on a large number of defamation cases from around the world in 2021. Following my widely read posts on 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 defamation cases, this is my personal selection of the most legally and factually interesting cases from England, Australia and Canada from the past year. Continue reading
The deeply partisan report of the Senate Inquiry into Media Diversity, tabled on 9 December 2021, is a disappointment. The main report by the Greens and Labor endorsed the campaign by former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull for a royal commission into media diversity and ownership, which they want to examine the influence of News Corporation and its owner, Rupert Murdoch. Continue reading
On September 8, 2021, the High Court delivered the landmark Voller decision, dismissing appeals by media outlets against the decision of the New South Wales Supreme Court which held that the news media and users of social media and other internet platforms may be held liable for content posted by others to their pages. Continue reading
In recent months the Australian government has proposed cracking down on online anonymity. The idea is that attaching online posts to a person’s real name will reduce abuse and increase accountability. Online bullying and misinformation are growing problems, and government action to address them is overdue. Continue reading
Unless you have been living in a cave, you will be well aware of Facebook’s current travails, fed by whistle-blower Frances Haugen’s explosive testimony about how Facebook researched but ignored findings that suggested the company’s algorithms were harming individual users by promoting content that kept them engaged—but at a cost to their mental wellbeing. Continue reading
This is the eighteenteenth instalment in a regular series from Inforrm highlighting press and case reports of new media and information cases from around the world. It is intended to complement our United States: Monthly Round Up posts. Please let us know if there are other cases and jurisdictions which we should be covering. Continue reading
The News Media Bargaining Code is a piece of legislation drafted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in early 2020 for the purpose of supporting local Australian news and journalism businesses. It is supposed to serve as a balance of powers between large global social media companies such as Facebook, Google, etc and Australian businesses such as SBS, ABC, Nine, etc. Continue reading
This is the seventeenth instalment in a regular series from Inforrm highlighting press and case reports of new media and information cases from around the world. It is intended to complement our United States: Monthly Round Up posts. Please let us know if there are other cases and jurisdictions which we should be covering. Continue reading
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