Just in time for the long bank holiday weekend, here’s this week’s media law news and comment round up. There has been lot of chatter around privacy injunctions, especially in regards to children’s rights and more will no doubt follow on contra mundum injunctions. News broke on Wednesday that the company suing the cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst for libel has gone out of business. Inforrm has just published my pieceillustrating the varying level of coverage of phone hacking at national newspapers. Here’s a pie chart showing the number of Sunday newspaper stories on phone hacking, 2006-11, by title [Source: Nexis®].
Phone hacking
- Media Guardian>>An inquiry into press practice will be good for free speech | John Kampfner
- Index on Censorship>> Hacking, it’s not “just” about celebrities
- Inforrm>>News: Mr Justice Vos recommends four phone hacking test cases and trial at end of year – Judith Townend
- Inforrm>>Opinion: “Civil claims and police investigation may not lead to truth and reconciliation in phone hacking” – Judith Townend
- The Guardian>> Phone hacking: Ed Miliband calls for inquiry into press abuses
- Media Guardian>> A simple question for Wapping: are you paying Mulcaire’s legal fees? – Roy Greenslade
- Charlie Brooker>> The real victims of the phone-hacking scandal are the tabloid hacks
Privacy
- Media Guardian>>Have super-injunctions killed the kiss’n’tell?
- Out-Law.com>>Children’s rights should outweigh almost all cases of public interest in newspaper stories, Court of Appeal says
- RPC Privacy>> Workplace affairs are private – especially if one half of the couple has children
- Press Gazette>>Appeal court upholds News of the World privacy gag
- Inforrm>>Case Law: ETK v News Group Newspapers “Privacy Injunctions and Children” – Edward Craven
- Media Guardian>>New breed of gagging order could send journalists to jail, MP claims
- Media Guardian>>Should newspapers pay sex workers to dish the dirt on their clients?
- London Evening Standard >> Law is badly in need of reform as celebrities hide secrets – Roy Greenslade
- Telegraph>> New gagging orders are ‘a recipe for hiding injustice
- One Brick Court>> ETK V News Group Newspapers Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 439
- Head of Legal>> ZAM v CFW & TFW: has John Hemming changed his mind?
- Left Food Forward>> Press freedom in peril: Another celeb injunction, and now a contra mundum
Defamation
- Index on Censorship>> US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business
- Inforrm>>Clift v Slough Borough Council – Supreme Court refuses permission to appeal
- One Brick Court>> Baturina v Times Newspapers Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 308
- One Brick Court>> Cook v Telegraph Media Group Ltd [2011] EWHC 763 (QB)
Press regulation
Open justice
Police & papers
- Press Gazette>>Police to look at ‘historic claims’ of tabloid payments
- Former reporter jailed for leaking police information
Twitter joke trial
Copyright
Newsroom disputes
- Media Guardian>> Reuters fires bureau chief over online chatroom remark
- Kyiv Post>> Joint statement by Kyiv Post journalists and owner Mohammad Zahoor
- Journalism.co.uk>> Kyiv Post staff strike after editor’s departure
Related judgments
- ETK v News Group Newspapers Ltd. [2011] EWCA Civ 439 (19 April 2011)
- OPQ v BJM & Anor [2011] EWHC 1059 (QB) (20 April 2011)
- Police of the Metropolis & Anoir v Times Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2011] EWHC 776 (QB) (18 April 2011)
- Henry v News Group Newspapers Ltd (Rev 1) [2011] EWHC 1058 (QB) (20 April 2011)
Resource of the week
It’s good to see that the newly designed Hold the Front Page site has a specific media law section now, which makes it easier follow their stories by RSS.
You can find a full stream of aggregated media law news via @medialawUK on Twitter; and Meeja Law tweets go out via @meejalaw. Contact me via @jtownend or . Relevant journalism and law events here: https://meejalaw.com/events/.
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