The last week of January brought a number of interesting media law developments, following a fairly quiet start to 2013. Inforrm has picked up pace too, with posts covering a range of noteworthy judgments (see below). Continue reading
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In writing his Inforrm post on the basis of a speculative report in a Sunday newspaper, Dr Eoin O’Dell was not to know that a Complaint had in fact already been lodged with the Press Ombudsman on behalf of the former Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen. Dr O’Dell’s comments were made while the matter was still the subject of an ongoing adjudication process which has the full support of the newspaper industry. Neither I nor Michael Kealey, the lawyer for the Irish Mail on Sunday, had been in a position to comment at the time in respect for the Ombudsman’s understandable preference that confidentiality be maintained during the initial stages of a complaints procedure aimed at encouraging a “mediated” solution in the first instance. Continue reading
In a dramatic move which reflects growing cross-party frustration with the slow pace of Leveson implementation, a cross-party group of leading backbenchers have moved some “Leveson amendments” to be taken at the Report Stage of the Defamation Bill on Tuesday 5 February 2013. The amendments – in the names of Lord Puttnam, former Conservative Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay, former Speaker Baroness Boothroyd and former Attorney-General Baroness Scotland – would insert some of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations on press regulation into a bill which has been strongly supported by the media. Continue reading
One aspect of the long running, international litigation between Elena Ambrosiadou and Martin Coward has finally come to an end with Mr Coward agreeing to submit to a permanent injunction and to pay £50,000 in damages to settle the privacy proceedings brought against him by his former wife. Ms Ambrosiadou’s Press Release and the Statement in Open Court can be read here. Continue reading
News International, also now known as NI Group, has just announced that its Compensation Scheme for victims of mobile phone interception is to close in April 2013. The Scheme has been in operation since April 2011. Compensation is assessed by former High Court Judge, Sir Charles Gray. The announcement is in the following terms: Continue reading
Former banker Irfan Qadir has been awarded substantial damages at the conclusion of his long-running libel action against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday, following the publication of two defamatory articles in May and June 2011. It also apologised in Court in respect of the articles. A Statement in Open Court [pdf]was read before Mr Justice Tugendhat on 31 January 2013. Continue reading
On Monday 28 January 2013 judgment was handed down by the Court of Appeal in the Sylvia Henry v News Group Newspapers Limited ([2013] EWCA Civ 19). Almost immediately there were the predictable howls of anguish from the insurance industry, followed by attention grabbing headlines such as “Jackson reforms ‘undermined’ by landmark costs ruling” declaring the Jackson reforms dead and buried before they had begun. This could not be further from the truth. This judgment is fact-dependent. It concerns the implementation of CPR PD51D “The Defamation Proceedings Costs Management Pilot Scheme”, which was the pre-cursor for new additions to CPR 3 which will apply to all multi-track cases commenced on or after 1 April 2013. Jackson is alive and well. Continue reading
Naomi Campbell has won her defamation action against The Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Telegraph had alleged in articles in November 2012 that Ms Campbell planned to organise an elephant polo tournament for her partner’s birthday celebrations in India and was therefore promoting animal cruelty. However, there were never any such plans – Ms Campbell had neither organised nor requested the organisation of any elephant polo tournament. Continue reading
The judgment in OOO Ivpress and Others v. Russia (HEJUD [2013] ECHR 67) provides a useful reminder of the importance of distinguishing “value judgments” from “facts” in libel cases and of the importance of engaging in a specific consideration as to whether a publication contributes to a debate of general interest. The case also reminds us of the strict standards which are applied to sanctions against political speech. Violations of Article 10 were found in four linked cases in which the Russian domestic courts had entered defamation judgments against the Ivanovo-Press newspaper. Continue reading
Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust. It collects information automatically from the websites of British news outlets. Articles are indexed by journalist, based on the byline to the article. Keywords and statistics are automatically generated, and the site searches for any blogs or social bookmarking sites linking to each article. Continue reading
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