ABSTRACT Television service providers in the UK are required to preserve due impartiality as respects all matters of political or industrial controversy and matters relating to current public policy. In RT v Ofcom, in a judicial review of the regulator’s decisions that the Russian owned television station RT had breached the rules, the Court of Appeal upheld the regulator’s application of the rules

ABSTRACT When regulating hate speech and disinformation online, first, do not suppress ideas or viewpoints as such, second, protect speech and other fundamental rights as positive freedoms, not only vertically but horizontally too, and, third, counteract private disinformation as well as government disinformation.

ABSTRACT This commentary examines the Supreme Court’s decision in Lloyd v Google LLC. It outlines the background to the claim and the legal ruling in the case. It considers the implications of the decision for claims relating to loss of control over personal data, and the potential relevance of the decision to claims for compensation under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection

ABSTRACT While debates on hate speech often focus on the case for banning certain types of expression, this article will focus on less restrictive alternatives. The article will consider the denial of a benefit normally granted to speakers, media regulations and government sponsored speech to counter messages of hate. Such measures, it is argued, are more proportionate than an outright ban and do not

Published in Journal of Media Law (Ahead of Print, 2022)

ABSTRACT Acknowledging that the government is a user of social networks may help us to better understand its attempt to regulate them. This paper draws on the French case to show different ways of regulating hate speech online. It then turns to the peculiar case of hate speech expressed by the government. There are good reasons to consider that government hate speech can be restricted in Europe as

ABSTRACT This paper argues that the binary opposition in the treatment of hate speech in the US and Europe hides non-binary preoccupations that reflect different primary fears which do not fall along the same ‘scale’. European liberal democracies fear the consequences of hate speech being left uncensored in the public domain (a WHAT concern) whilst America fears the consequences of content interventions

ABSTRACT In thinking about the developing online harms regime (in the UK and elsewhere11 For example, the European Commission’s ongoing development of the Digital Services Act, Ireland’s Online Safety Media Regulation, Germany’s ‘network enforcement law’ known as Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz law, or ‘NetzDG’, the European Union’s Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online.) it is forgivable

ABSTRACT Public Facebook pages are an important way in which traditional media outlets engage their readers and commercialise that engagement. In Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller (2021) 392 ALR 540; [2021] HCA 27, the High Court of Australia has recently held that media outlets are liable as publishers for defamatory third party comments posted on media outlets’ public Facebook pages even

ABSTRACT This article seeks to defend the emergent consensus that suspects should be entitled to anonymity until charge and that the tort of misuse of private information (‘MPI') is the appropriate action to protect this right. It systematically addresses Nicole Moreham’s argument, in this journal, that breach of confidence, rather than MPI, should ground such claims, and that the case law to date

ABSTRACT In four recent cases, the High Court of England and Wales has had to consider whether damages for reputational harm can be recovered in a claim for misuse of private information (‘MOPI’). This is an important issue which sharpens focus on the precise boundaries between privacy and defamation law. And yet it is a question on which the court is currently divided, with different judges coming

ABSTRACT This article attempts to identify a standard of liability for use in claims for misuse of private information (MPI). It highlights current uncertainty over this issue following the decision of the Supreme Court in Lloyd v Google LLC. It considers whether the comments of Lord Leggatt in Lloyd are compatible with those made in earlier MPI decisions and argues that the standard applicable remains

ABSTRACT Outpaced by the development of the internet, current regulatory approaches do not protect users from online harms transmitted over online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. The Draft Online Safety Bill attempts to improve safety online by developing online analogues for responsibility practices, but is limited by a focus on platforms as service providers hosting content. Online safety

ABSTRACT Social networking sites are currently an important element of community, economic and political life. This means that a legal framework that would guarantee freedom of expression on the one hand and protection against defamation on the other must be created. The 2019 CJEU judgement in the Glawischnig-Piesczek (C-18/18) case provides another tool to control the content uploaded to social networking

(2021). Media Freedom. Journal of Media Law: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 276-278.

ABSTRACT This article examines the notion of media freedom and the development of two cultures of media freedom. The negative rights approach which is more prevalent in US law is increasingly separated from the more positive rights approach of international human rights and the ECHR. The article outlines the elements of a conditional, institutional approach to media freedom that combines both positive

ABSTRACT Restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in England and Wales accelerated the use of digital technology for remote hearings. Inevitably, a period of trial and error followed, with a hybrid and emergency set of rules for media and public access to hearings. This short article outlines some of the main changes to the conduct of court hearings in 2020–21, and the impact on open justice

ABSTRACT In February 2021, following sustained brinkmanship from Google and Facebook, Australia passed into law its world-first 'News Media Bargaining Code' (Code), which seeks to address the bargaining imbalance between digital platforms and news media. Already, some have judged the Code to be a success, with other countries now considering implementing similar policy responses. In this analysis article

ABSTRACT Drawing upon empirical research carried out by the author, this paper demonstrates that the current law in England and Wales on privacy fails to provide appropriate recourse for a person who feels aggrieved at their photograph being taken and shared, particularly where this evokes emotions of embarrassment or humiliation. Whilst some improvements to the current law are discussed to improve

ABSTRACT Injunctions are a contentious issue between the judiciary and the press. What the press wishes to publish has sometimes been restricted by the judiciary through the issuing of injunctions. Nonetheless, there have been instances in which injunctions have not been respected. First, members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords have used parliamentary privilege to name individuals. The

ABSTRACT It has been increasingly asserted that data protection can and should enable individuals to exert some control at least ex post over online data dissemination. Notwithstanding contrary suggestions, therefore, the ‘right to be forgotten’ is not solely an EU phenomenon. Post-2014 the majority of the eight national Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) s operating in non-EU G20 jurisdictions with

ABSTRACT This article claims that the practices undertaken by digital platforms to counter disinformation, under the EU Action Plan against Disinformation and the Code of Practice, mark a shift in the governance of news media content. While professional journalism standards have been used for long, both within and outside the industry, to assess the accuracy of news content and adjudicate on media

ABSTRACT This article addresses the application of the journalism exception in UK data protection law. A number of uncertainties arise out of the case law of the CJEU and UK courts, as well as from the changes made to the journalism exception in the new data protection regime under the GDPR and DPA 2018. Three areas within the journalism exception will be discussed: the meaning of ‘journalistic purposes’

ABSTRACT In Norowzian v Arks Ltd. (No.2) the Court of Appeal determined that the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 protects films as dramatic works. What, conceptually and in practice, this means is not clear. This article examines and compares the history of film with the definitions of film in the Berne Convention and UK copyright laws to argue that practical and legal definitions of film were

ABSTRACT This paper argues the AVMSD attaches cooperative responsibility to platforms’ organisational control. Firstly, it explores how the new concept of organisational control differs from the editorial control that has traditionally been central to media law, in particular concerning the greater involvement of other stakeholders active on platforms. Secondly, it analyses the measures the AVMSD requires

(2020). Positive free speech. Rationales, methods and implications, hart. Journal of Media Law: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 129-131.

(2020). Police investigations, privacy and the Marcel principle in breach of confidence. Journal of Media Law: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 1-12.

ABSTRACT This article argues against the court striking out defamation claims on the basis that they are ‘disproportionate’, that is, they cost more to litigate than they raise in damages. We begin by setting out the so-called problem of disproportionality. Next, we show that the court’s current solution of striking out the claimant’s claim should be rejected in defamation cases. The value of the claim

ABSTRACT This article evaluates regulatory responses to stereotypical gender portrayals in advertising in the UK before and after the 2019 changes in the Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) harm and offensiveness framework. It systematises for the first time the ASA's rulings in this territory and brings a new perspective in its modern practice by examining it within Deaux and Lewis’ theoretical

ABSTRACT This article empirically analyses the judicial construction of section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013 within the first five years of the serious reputational harm threshold coming into operation. The relevant judgments considering serious harm have been carefully examined and dissected with a qualitative analysis approach, in which prominent themes and factors discussed in judicial interpretations

ABSTRACT This article examines questions relating to the appropriate role of digital intermediaries in regulating online terrorist-related content and the extent to which proponents of human rights should be concerned with the free speech implications of intermediary liability, through a comparative analysis of recent developments in Europe and the United States. While Europe is contemplating introducing

How do liberal democracies respond to the fact of multiple speakers in public discourse? Previous approaches to media regulation were predicated upon a few speakers-many readers/listeners/viewers m...

A handful of recent English authorities have held that, up to the point of charge, individuals will usually have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of police investigations into their c...

This stimulating book has a broad historical scope. Its 25 chapters cover censorship from the suppression in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries of translations of the Bible to the removal of boo...

A consensus has formed that the negative social externalities of online harms combined with huge market power of internet intermediaries justify regulation of online service providers.1 Fake news, ...

ABSTRACT The internet has revolutionised our ability to communicate and connect across historic social, political and geographic divides. Where previously gatekeepers mitigated and negotiated access to mass media platforms, today potentially anyone – and any content – can reach millions of users in an instant. This development bears great opportunities for the democratisation of expression and the

ABSTRACT The United Kingdom is currently examining far-reaching regulatory proposals designed to address the online transmission of harmful content, including disinformation. Of particular interest, therefore, is French Law no. 2018–1202 on the ‘fight against the manipulation of information’. The French Law establishes a fast-track civil procedure to tackle the transmission of false information prior

As the 2019 Online Harms White Paper (OHWP) notes, the Internet is an increasingly integral part of our lives, and can offer ‘significant benefits’. In order to ensure these benefits are not undermined, the OHWP argues that new regulation is needed to reduce a wide array of ‘online harms’ such as those described in the joint ministerial foreword: ‘In the wrong hands the Internet can be used to spread

ABSTRACT This article considers the approach taken by the Online Harms White Paper to constructing a statutory duty of care and argues that while not explicit the approach taken is consistent with a ‘by design’ approach.

ABSTRACT Libel tourism is the phenomenon whereby litigants issue libel claims in inappropriate fora in order to avail themselves of the pro-claimant laws therein. For years, London held the reputation as the global capital for libel tourism. However, following controversy in this area in the 2000s and passage of both the US SPEECH Act and Defamation Act 2013, the debate surrounding the libel tourism

ABSTRACT The South African public broadcaster, the SABC has faced serious threats to its independence. The ruling African National Congress has been the dominant political party since South Africa’s first democratic elections and factional battles have played out in the SABC from time to time. President Zuma and the Minister of Communications visibly took control of the SABC through Hlaudi Motsoeneng

ABSTRACT This article investigates and compares the changes to both the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Copyright Directive, through which European Union policymakers have sought to protect European content producers, mainly in the face of competition from US-based platforms. Contributing to debates about platform and content regulation, we examine the approaches taken with these two legislative

ABSTRACT The depiction of grief and intense anxiety is commonplace in modern journalism. Little work has been done, however, to examine the impact of the collection and publication of such material on those who appear in it. This article explores that issue, drawing both on secondary literature and the authors’ original qualitative research into the experiences of family members of 29 men killed in

ABSTRACT The article assesses how the English courts have compensated defamed claimants who had misconducted themselves before action or during the course of litigation. It demonstrates that in recent years judges appear to have liberalised their approach to accepting evidence in mitigation of libel damages and allowed claimants’ disreputable conduct to restrict the level of awards almost to a vanishing

ABSTRACT In Richard v BBC, a media report revealing that the police were investigating a person in relation to alleged historic sex offence was found to violate the claimant’s expectation of privacy. The ruling is important in drawing new boundaries on what can be reported in relation to criminal investigations. This article examines the decision and considers its relationship with other areas of law

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of the regulatory furore over ‘fake news’, this article examines the protection that is afforded to untruthful expression by the European Court of Human Rights and by national courts in Germany, the UK and the US. It argues that the suppression of ‘fake news’ in the face of uncertainty over the contours of this highly politicised term and of the evidentiary vacuum as to

ABSTRACT In Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that s 1 Defamation Act 2013 was intended to “raise the bar” for defamation claims above the standard previously demanded at common law. However, despite finding that this was Parliament’s intention in enacting s 1, the Court held that this intention had not been successfully implemented by the wording of the Act. The notion that

ABSTRACT Video journalists currently reporting from English courts operate within a strict framework set by both statutory and common law. The main argument for these tight rules has traditionally been that the cameras pose a threat to the proper administration of justice. Their potential danger to the privacy of those involved in the trial, on the other hand, has never been properly examined. This

ABSTRACT In recent years, a number of high-profile privacy cases involving children have come before the English courts. This article draws on developments from ‘PJS v News group, Weller v Associated Newspapers’ and ‘Murray vExpress Newspaper’. In these cases, the courts considered concepts of welfare and well-being when balancing a child’s article 8 right to privacy with the article 10 right to freedom

ABSTRACT This article analyses the latest judgment of the European Court of Human Rights dealing with the right of reply. The court held that the compulsion for a publisher to print a reply to an editorial he had written and published in his newspaper did not violate his fundamental rights. Exploring the key findings, this analysis sets out the decision’s wider implications for freedom of expression

ABSTRACT How did the nineteenth-century trade marks registration system with its preference for distinctive trade marks accommodate Britain’s newspapers and reading publics, who seemed able to distinguish between newspapers despite their common descriptive names? In this article, it is argued that the situation presents another example of intellectual property law’s ‘negative spaces’, of creativity

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether corporations could claim a right to reputation under the European Convention on Human Rights. The existence of such a right could have significant implications for English defamation law as it relates to corporate claimants. The analysis in this paper focuses on Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol 1, because the European Court of Human Rights has left open the applicability

ABSTRACT Two recent decisions on applications for publication restrictions on judgments and judicial proceedings have reaffirmed the ‘ultimate balancing test’ between privacy and freedom of expression (Re S per Lord Steyn). Under that test, neither right has ‘as such’ precedence over the other. The reasoning in these decisions, particularly the emphasis on open justice, suggests the courts are treating

ABSTRACT This article will critically evaluate the Crown Prosecution Service guidelines concerning grossly offensive comments made via social media. Abusive comments conducted online have recently dominated newspaper headlines. The Crown Prosecution Service has attempted to give clear advice to prosecutors as to when a comment made online will go from being one that is simply offensive, to one that

ABSTRACT Media reportage about forensic mental health cases raises several competing rights and interests, including the public interest in open justice; a patient’s right to privacy, treatment and recovery; the public’s right to know about mental health tribunal processes; and victims’ and citizens’ interests in learning the longer term consequences of a publicised serious unlawful act. This article

ABSTRACT Authors and performers use pseudonyms in order to distance themselves from their works and performances. Pseudonymity protects expressive, creative, privacy and reputational interests. In this article we consider whether authors and performers should have a legal right to exclusive pseudonymity, that is, a right to be identified by their pseudonym to the exclusion of their real name. We argue

ABSTRACT More and more news is personalised, based on our personal data and interests. As a result, the focus of media regulation moves from the news producer to the news recipient. This research asks what the fundamental right to receive information means for personalised news consumers and the obligation it imposes on states. However, the right to receive information is under-theorised. Therefore

ABSTRACT The article scrutinises a libel case brought by a claimant against the public prosecuting authority in England and Wales, asking the court to determine as a preliminary issue the meaning of a Charging Announcement. This case is worth consideration because it illustrates how the arguably problematic interpretation of the offence of ‘making’ indecent images of children may extend beyond the