A little while ago, I argued that liberty, democracy and the rule of law together constitute the constitutional trinity on which many modern states are founded, and that, not only are there the traditionally understood strong liberal and democratic justifications for freedom of expression, there are also equally strong free speech justifications founded in the rule of law. In last week’s decision in R (on the application of Guardian News and Media Ltd) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2012] EWCA Civ 420 (03 April 2012), the Court of Appeal for England and Wales made this point in rhetoric of great eloquence, perspicuity and vigour (though the judgments are curiously ambivalent in their ambit and ambition). Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Ireland (Page 7 of 8)
I’ve been musing since Wednesday about motes and beams. A quick online search confirmed to me that the phrase comes from the King James version of St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 7, verse 3):
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” Continue reading
Sensationalised articles concerning gangland crime populate tabloid pages in Ireland, even more so than celebrity scandals. Chronicling criminals has been glamorised by journalists such as Paul Williams whose articles satiate the public’s morbid thirst for scoops on the criminal underworld. However, while some nefarious individuals or Continue reading
The UK’s Ministry of Justice has announced its long-awaited consultation on the reform of the UK’s libel laws. Much of the territory covered by draft Defamation Bill was covered in Ireland by the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here), though there are some important differences as well. Continue reading
In a now-infamous wardrobe malfunction in the course of the half-time entertainment for Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004), during a duet between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Timberlake fleetingly exposed Jackson’s right breast, which was adorned with a large nipple shield (the pair are pictured left immediately after the incident). In an exciting game, the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers 32-29, but Jackson got all of the post-game media exposure (sorry!). Continue reading
In Watters v Independent Star [2010] IECC 1 (03 November 2010), the first reported judgment on the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here), Matthews J granted the plaintiff a declaratory order pursuant to section 28 of the Act (also here) that an article published by the defendant was defamatory, and he made a further order pursuant to section 33 of the Act (also here) prohibiting the newspaper from re-publishing the defamation. Continue reading
After representing Donal Kinsella in his recent recent record-breaking defamation award of €10 million by a Dublin jury, Joe O’Malley examines jury awards in Defamation cases
The highest jury and defamation award in the history of the State was handed down on the evening of Wednesday 17 November 2010 when eleven remaining members of an originally empanelled twelve member jury awarded Donal Kinsella Continue reading
Some orders have been made on foot of the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here) – see, for example, Lowry v Smyth (background here and here; coverage of the order here), Mellon v Associated Newspapers (coverage here), and Meegan v Associated Newspapers (coverage here) – but Watters v Independent Star [2010] IECC 1 (03 November 2010) remains the only reported judgment on provisions of the Act. In that case, the newspaper had published an article headlined Continue reading
Obscene. Once I had caught my breath, and collected my composure, this was my immediate reaction to learning that an Irish High Court Jury had awarded €10 million in libel damages, made up of €9 million in compensatory damages and €1 million in aggravated damages.
We reported some weeks ago on an unsuccessful claim for misuse of private information and libel in the Irish High Court by Ms Ruth Hickey against the Sunday World newspaper. The full judgment is now available ([2010] IEHC 349). The plaintiff, Ruth Hickey, is the partner of David Agnew, the former husband of Adele King (better known as “Twink“), a popular Irish entertainer. Ms Hickey had sued over an article entitled “Twink’s Ex Shows Off Love Child”, which showed photographs of her and Mr Agnew leaving the registry office shortly after the couple had registered their son’s birth in 2006. Continue reading
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