Fewer big libel and privacy stories to report this week, but Twitterers have been particularly lively on the media ethics front, primarily in relation to Independent columnist Johann Hari’s admission of his interview ‘etiquette’ and the subsequent fallout. Meanwhile, a committee in the House of Lords has suggested that BBC complaints should be appealable to Ofcom (As it stands, complaints relating to the corporation’s accuracy and impartiality can only be heard by the BBC Trust).
Jon Slattery provided a guest post to Meeja Law about the ill-effect of (necessary) balanced court reporting for the families of murder victims. Index on Censorship’s privacy debate on Tuesday evening (June 28) – featuring Max Mosley – drew the crowds; I reported it for Index, Inforrm and the PA Media Lawyer.
Libel
- Press Gazette>>Lebedev considering legal action against The Guardian
- Inforrm>>McEvedys’ response to the Draft Defamation Bill consultation
- Inforrm>>Case Law: Thornton v Telegraph Media Group – the slow decline of the libel jury trial continue
Privacy
- Inforrm>>News – Debate: Privacy, free speech and the feral press – Judith Townend
- Press Gazette>>Max Mosley: privacy law ‘heavily’ favours the media
- Index on Censorship>> Are privacy injunctions a necessary evil?
- Privacy debate audio
- Index on Censorship>> John Kampfner: Evidence to the BBC Radio 4 PM Privacy Commission
- LSE MediaPal>>Where Next for Privacy Law?
- Laura MacPhee>> Injunctions are a necessary evil: Privacy, free speech and a feral press
Freedom of information
Data Protection
Media regulation
- Out-Law.com>>Complaints about BBC accuracy and impartiality should be appealable to Ofcom, say Lords
Media standards
- Tabloid Watch>> Transforming old quotes into a ‘new’ feature
- Global Voices>> Podcast: Who do we believe online?
- David Allen Green>> Johann Hari and media standards
- Press Gazette>>Gideon Levy backs Johann Hari in plagiarism row
- Media Guardian>>Independent writer’s admission highlights news copyright issues | David Banks
- MST>> Media Standards Trust response to Johann Hari allegations
- Stephen Baxter>> We can’t let Hari off the hook because “he’s one of us”
- Johann Hari>> My journalism is at the centre of a storm. This is what I have learned
- BBC Radio 4 The Media Show>> Johann Hari, House of Lords & Levi Bellfield case
Phone hacking
- Media Guardian>>Phone hacking: Press Association to support Laura Elston
- Press Gazette>>Phone hacking: lawyers get access to ‘Mulcaire archive’
Contempt
- Media Guardian>>Sun and Mirror face contempt trial
- Media Guardian>>’Avalanche’ of Bellfield stories threaten to put editors in dock for contempt
Court reporting
- NY Review of Books>> China’s Political Prisoners: True Confessions? by Jonathan Mirsky
- Global Voices Advocacy>> Malaysian blogger defamation case – cause for concern
- Dinah Gardner>> Ahead of Party’s 90th birthday, China poisons the internet
Link of the week
- Global Voices’ Threatened Voices project: “A collaborative mapping project to build a database of bloggers who have been threatened, arrested or killed for speaking out online and to draw attention to the campaigns to free them”.
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