-
Meeja Law
Media law & ethics for online publishers, collected and written by Judith Townend (@jtownend). Please note that this site is no longer regularly updated.
Disclaimer: This site contains general information only. This site does not contain legal advice. This site is not responsible for the content of external sites. Enquiries should be made to:
-
Subscribe by email!
-
Subscribe by RSS
-
Research: Media lawyers, journalists and bloggers
Please get in touch with your views and experiences of libel and privacy law in England and Wales. -
Media Law for Bloggers
-
@jtownend on Twitter
- RT @rights_info: DEADLINE THIS MONDAY: RightsInfo Is Looking For Two New Project Volunteers, apply by 11.4.16 rightsinfo.org/rightsinfo-loo… 3 hours ago
- now onto potential changes to copyright - a need for a freedom of expression defence? @copyrightcentre @infolawcentre 3 hours ago
- is education really an answer to copyright problems with parody / ugc etc.? @copyrightcentre @infolawcentre 4 hours ago
- fascinating discussions re. parody & UGC @copyrightcentre @infolawcentre somehow apt my stream filled w. ppl tweeting CassetteBoy #IPBill ? 4 hours ago
- hearing abt Rupa Huq's challenge to restrictions on parliamentary footage use bit.ly/1VDB66q / @copyrightcentre @infolawcentre 5 hours ago
-
@meejalaw on Twitter
- Press Gazette: Police force behind Newsnight laptop seizure reveals BBC did not contest Terrorism Ac... bit.ly/1kWINpV #medialaw 5 months ago
- RT @JTownend: ...contacted by @igavels about inappropriate use of gavel in @meejalaw logo … there’s a Tumblr of course: http://t.co/o3EERPG… 1 year ago
- [Scotland] COPFS: Guidance on cases involving Communications sent via Social Media: bit.ly/1zgEoBh #medialaw 1 year ago
- [Scotland] COPFS release: Crown Office sets out social media prosecution policy: bit.ly/1zEniLY #medialaw 1 year ago
- RT @infolawcentre: New post: An open and linkable Leveson report… inspiration for legal and policy documents? bit.ly/1xWxXEC cc @ro… 1 year ago
-
Blogroll
- 5RB – media & entertainment law
- BBC College of Journalism – Law
- BBC Freedom of Information
- Blackstone's Statutes Media Law 3e – resources
- British Journal of Photography – campaigns
- Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism
- Channel 4 Producer's Handbook – Media Law
- City Legal Research
- CRITique commercial law blog
- David Banks
- David Price Guide to Media Law
- Delia Venables’ legal resources
- Digital Media Law (US)
- Digital Media Law Project
- Don’t Get Fooled Again
- Drawnalism
- EPUK resources
- George Brock
- Guardian Freedom of Information
- Guardian Legal Network
- Guardian.co.uk – media law
- Heather Brooke’s blog
- HMCS glossary of legal terms
- I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist
- Index on Censorship
- Informationa Rights and Wrongs
- Inforrm blog
- IP Media Law
- Jack of Kent
- Jonathan Hewett
- Journal Local
- Journalism.co.uk – media law
- Law Bore
- Learn WordPress.com
- Learnmore
- LSE Media Law Policy Project
- Matt Buck
- McNae’s student resources
- Media Standards Trust
- MediaPaL@LSE
- MediaWise
- Ministry of Justice
- mySociety
- Ofcom Watch
- One Brick Court – news
- out-law.com
- panGloss
- PCC – links to regulators
- Photo Legal
- Press Gazette – media law
- Recent decisions in England&Wales Court of Appeal (civil)
- Recent decisions in England&Wales High Court (Queen’s Bench)
- Reframing Libel Symposium
- Robert Sharp
- ScraperWiki
- TabloidWatch
- Talk About Local
- The Private Lives of Others
- The Small Places
- UK Human Rights Blog
- Wannabe Hacks
- WhatDoTheyKnow
-
Recent Posts
- An inappropriate gavel
- Legal records and the ‘right to be forgotten’: Google Spain blog series and event
- A sensible proposal for online recording of reporting restrictions
- The impact of libel and privacy on UK-based online journalists, bloggers and hyperlocals – some survey data
- SLS Media & Communications Section: Call for Papers 2014
-
Archives
- July 2015
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
-
academic research access to justice blogging comment contempt of court courts data defamation digital open justice events freedom of expression freedom of information human rights journalism leveson inquiry media ethics media law media law mop-up media law resources media regulation newspapers phone hacking press freedom privacy public interest reporting restrictions social media social networking super injunctions Uncategorized
MediaAct: a new platform and network for media accountability?
On Friday and Saturday (27-28 July) I joined a group of European media bloggers in Bristol for a seminar organised by MediaWise, the EU MediaAct project at UWE and the NUJ New Media Industrial Council.
MediaAcT is a European research project comparing media accountability and transparency systems and examining digital engagement, such as blogging. MediaWise (which in its words “has been warning about unethical behaviour by tabloid journalists and calling for reform of the regulatory system for almost 20 years”) based at the University of West England, was involved in surveying UK bloggers (I’m looking forward to reading results) and is now investigating the possibility of a media accountability platform (see below).
Gilles Bruno, a media blogger based in France, has posted details of the event on his L’Observatoire des Medias site, including a list of participants. He’s also created a Twitter list here. Participants came from a number of different countries, including Germany, Austria, France, Norway and of course, the UK.
On Friday, we shared experiences and thoughts on blogging about media and journalism, touching on regulatory, legal and accountability issues.
A nice perk was the conference’s location: right by Bristol’s Millennium Square – a fantastic place to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony along with hundreds of others.
NUJ widget
On Saturday, Gary Herman introduced us to the NUJ’s kitemark widget. In my view [I was involved in some of the discussion when I sat on the New Media Industrial Council] it’s a good resource for NUJ members. A site badge provides a way of showing that you’re part of the NUJ, and shows the code members have signed up to. However, as I said at the conference, I don’t think it can possibly solve a wider dispute mediation problem (and, as I understand it, I don’t think the NUJ intends it to). I think any process dealing with those would require significantly more investment of resources and time.
Corrigo
Corrigo, dreamed up by German online journalists Tobias Reitz and Kersten A. Riechers is a nifty sounding concept for a browser add-in, allowing user annotation of news articles. Their presentation provoked a lively discussion about Corrigo’s likely success in holding journalism to account and problems they might encounter. I’ve seen the launch of numerous accountability tools over the years and many have failed to grow or build a significant user base (Google’s Sidewiki is the most obvious example) but I don’t see that as any reason to stop the conversation and the continual experimentation with technology to develop the media correction process. (Incidentally, Craig Silverman, founder of Regret the Error and Poynter blogger has an excellent post on improving journalistic corrections on social media here). I do, however, think there will be important legal and ethical considerations to think about: how will they moderate and manage editorial control of user contributions, for example? Good luck to Tobias and Kersten and I look forward to hearing more on their progress.
Accountability platform
Then to a more interactive session, in which we were asked to think about “creating an international forum for and about bloggers – to share techniques, achievements, problems etc.” This would be part of the MediaAct project. Ideas discussed included the possibility of translating material within a network of European bloggers and developing research among citizens. From a UK perspective, I already feel overloaded with the mass of critical material out there – I’m not sure another media watchdog blog is necessary. Neither do I see the point of replicating information that is already easily accessible online. What would be helpful would be snippet translations in a number of European languages pointing us to stories and initiatives in other countries (and in my area of interest, media legal developments) and greater development of a inter-blogger network – perhaps through more events like the one in Bristol. Additionally, clear objectives need to be defined: in terms of who the target audience for the forum or platform is, what does it want to help bloggers achieve, and how can it do this in a practically useful and time/resource efficient way?
We finished the day with a general discussion on freedom of expression in the online environment. I’ve collected some of the tweets in this Storify. I’ll report further developments on the project in due course.
Thanks to Mike Jempson and Wayne Powell at MediaWise for an excellent weekend.
Share this:
Like this:
Related