The prime minister is on a mission to defend her Brexit deal. After a three-hour grilling from MPs on November 15, Theresa May came out fighting in a press conference, dismissing the idea that she would be ousted as Conservative Party leader. The next morning, she took callers’ questions about the draft Withdrawal Agreement on LBC radio. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently had the honour to be invited to give a guest lecture to the Copyright Society of Australia in Sydney. My talk focussed on how the Internet has evolved over the past twenty years, leading to a severe imbalance between Internet platforms and the creative community because of the abuse and misuse of safe harbours, and how recent events have put the big platforms in the spotlight—indeed in the crosshairs of the public and politicians. Read the rest of this entry »
Peter Hain’s decision to breach an interim injunction granted by the Court of Appeal in the case of ABC v Telegraph Media Group has caused serious concern. It is one of the cardinal rules in Parliament that members should not interfere in ongoing legal proceedings and Hain did not wait until the end of the proceedings before breaching this injunction, even though the case had been scheduled for an early full hearing. He does not appear even to have read the court judgment he saw fit to overrule, effectively. Read the rest of this entry »
Two recent IPSO developments and one decision from the Advertising Standard Agency (“ASA”) demonstrate a trend towards more active challenging and regulation of the media in respect of issues relating to sexual offences, domestic violence and women’s health. Read the rest of this entry »
A likely Budget cut in VAT on online publications will be presented as a boost for journalism. In reality it is a bung for the pro-Tory billionaires behind the Mail, the Sun and the Telegraph. Read the rest of this entry »
Hardly a week goes by without news of another data breach at a large corporation affecting millions, most recently Facebook. In 2016, the issue became political with evidence of Russian interference in the U.S. election and the spectre of foreign control over public opinion. Read the rest of this entry »
The Cairncross review was set up by the government in March 2018 to investigate “how to sustain the production and distribution of high-quality journalism in a changing market”. Read the rest of this entry »
