Ethical dilemma for editors as revenge porn law does not give victims anonymity
New legislation that makes posting revenge porn a criminal offence may cause an ethical dilemma for editors. The Criminal Courts and Justice Act 2015 does not provide complainants with anonymity in...
View ArticleHow the cookie law crumbled: IC backs away from tough action on non-compliant...
Websites that do not provide adequate cookie consent forms are unlikely to get more than a warning, following a change in approach by the Information Commissioner. The IC has backed away from the...
View ArticleChange in identifying young people in Scottish court cases catches...
Young offenders and accused aged 16 and 17 can no longer be identified in Scottish criminal cases. The age at which charged youths can be named in the media was raised from 16 to 18 last week in a move...
View ArticleGoogle 'right to be forgotten' dispute with Information Commissioner will...
Google has been hit with a 'remove or else' order by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over links to stories in some online media archives. It is the first public enforcement notice served...
View ArticleWhy Sun’s 'I killed them' front page on alleged EastEnders actress killer was...
I think most people would agree that The Sun’s front page story about the arrest of Arthur Simpson-Kent for an alleged triple murder stood a chance of prejudicing his trial! After all, the heading ‘I...
View ArticleLegal judgment upholds the right of journalists, and others, to take notes in...
Few things are more likely to raise the eyebrows of a judge or a magistrate than the sight of someone taking notes in their courtroom. One judge was so incensed that he asked a reporter friend of mine...
View ArticleCourt of Appeal banned murder trial reports from appearing on Facebook for...
The Court of Appeal banned the media from carrying reports of a murder trial on their Facebook pages. Editors were warned that they could face prosecution under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 if they...
View ArticleEU report mulls changes to current laissez faire online comments moderation...
Media websites’ legal protection for user-generated content on message boards could be under threat. They currently rely on the EU Electronic Commerce Directive (ECD) to protect from them from the...
View ArticleWhen government press officers think they are court reporters justice could...
A question for you. When is court report not a court report? Answer: when a government department writes it. Then it’s a press release. Confused? You should be. It’s a quirky area of law which...
View ArticleThe EU has helped to shape UK copyright law for journalists, but Brexit...
Now that that dust has settled after the EU referendum, it’s worth looking at how Brexit will affect media law. Nothing is certain yet, but it is possible to make some informed predictions. I will be...
View ArticleAnalysis: Brexit could remove EU legal protection for comments on news websites
This is the second article in my series about the possible effect of Brexit on media law. I examined copyright earlier this month. This article looks at the future of reader comments on message boards....
View ArticleHow Brexit will impact media law part three: The Data Protection Act
In this latest article about the possible effect of Brexit on media law, I will look at data protection. In previous articles, I have examined message boards and copyright. Most journalists rarely...
View ArticleAppeal Court allows action under the Data Protection Act as alternative to...
The Court of Appeal has given the green light for people to bring claims against the media for breaches of the Data Protection Act (DPA) if their libel actions fail. The ruling last week arose in a...
View ArticleJournalistic exemption from the Data Protection Act under threat from EU law...
I have always regarded the Data Protection Act as the biggest threat to what’s left of the UK’s press freedom. The landscape would change significantly if legislators tightened the act’s ‘journalistic...
View ArticleComment: Why The Independent is on shaky ground ethically and legally by...
The Independent appears to have thrown caution and ethics to the wind by apparently lifting copy from another news organisation without payment or consent. Its behaviour, highlighted in the Press...
View ArticleLegal judgment upholds the right of journalists, and others, to take notes in...
Few things are more likely to raise the eyebrows of a judge or a magistrate than the sight of someone taking notes in their courtroom. One judge was so incensed that he asked a reporter friend of mine...
View ArticleCourt of Appeal banned murder trial reports from appearing on Facebook for...
The Court of Appeal banned the media from carrying reports of a murder trial on their Facebook pages. Editors were warned that they could face prosecution under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 if they...
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