Category Archives: press freedom

A sensible proposal for online recording of reporting restrictions

Amid concerns over proposed changes to the Contempt of Act 1981, through the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which would introduce new statutory powers for the removal of online material*, it seems worth highlighting some separate recommendations on contempt and … Continue reading

Posted in academic research, access to justice, contempt of court, courts, media law, press freedom, reporting restrictions | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Job opportunity: Legal officer at the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI)

MLDI is currently advertising for a legal officer. Here’s the information: Based in London, we work worldwide through a network of partner organisations and individual lawyers. We have cases pending before various national courts as well as at international human … Continue reading

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Coming soon: People Power – A user’s guide to democracy

An “accessible guide to democracy in Britain” will be published by Bantam Press (Transworld) next month, covering topics including national and local government,  free speech, the internet and the rule of law. The author of People Power, Dan Jellinek, is … Continue reading

Posted in access to justice, blogging, defamation, media law, media law resources, media regulation, press freedom | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Open letter: Justice and Security Bill is ‘a charter for cover ups’

My name is among the signatories of this open letter written in protest at the measures proposed in the Justice and Security Bill, which has reached its report stage and third reading in the House of Commons.  For more background … Continue reading

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New paper: Leveson online – A publicly reported inquiry

My paper on public access to the Leveson Inquiry has been published in the new issue of Ethical Space, The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Abstract: The Leveson Inquiry has broken new ground for court and political reporting: for the first … Continue reading

Posted in academic research, access to justice, blogging, courts, data, digital open justice, freedom of expression, human rights, journalism, leveson inquiry, media ethics, press freedom | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The BBC and ‘tragedies of the fourth estate’

There’s an excellent piece by Paul Lashmar, investigative journalist and lecturer at Brunel University, on openDemocracy this week, examining the role of – and implications for – investigative journalism in the recent ‘BBC debacle’. I was particularly interested in the … Continue reading

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Beyond Leveson: Legal protection for online and ‘citizen’ media

I’ve previously written about Leveson’s online elephant (as had Index on Censorship’s Marta Cooper before me). As the debate intensifies over the shape of ‘press’ regulation (the key question is whether or not a new regulator should be underpinned by … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, defamation, freedom of expression, human rights, media law, media law resources, media regulation, press freedom, social media | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Law and Media Round Up – 5 November 2012

Defamation, regulation, and internet policy in this week’s media law round up, including  judgments in Cairns v Modi and KC v MGN Ltd ([2012] EWCA Civ 1382) [media summary here, PDF] and Ismail & Anor v News Group Newspapers Ltd … Continue reading

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Unmanned aerial journalism: how drones could be the industry’s next big thing

Some specialists would prefer that we called drones by their official name, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. However, UAV journalism doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as ‘drone journalism’, which according to participants at a seminar in Oxford this week … Continue reading

Posted in academic research, blogging, data protection, events, media law, photography, press freedom, privacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gideon Benaim: Payments for private information and the regulation of journalism

Gideon Benaim, partner at Michael Simkins LLP (formerly of Schillings), has responded to my question about the potential regulation of payments for private information, in a blog post for Inforrm. He argues that “unless there is a legitimate public interest … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, digital open justice, journalism, media ethics, media law, media regulation, newspapers, press freedom, privacy, public interest | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment