“Libel law is meant to protect the reputation of individuals, not corporations. The defamation bill must redress the balance.”
The Guardian, 10th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A Bill to protect freedom of speech and reform the libel laws is to be introduced into Parliament, it was announced in the Queen’s Speech.”
The Independent, 9th May 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“Free speech is under attack. Or so it seems. The last few weeks have been abuzz with stories to do with free speech: a Supreme Court ruling on the Reynolds defence to libel; contempt of court proceedings against an MP for comments made in a book and the latest in a growing line of criminal trials for Twitter offences. The diversity of media at the heart of these stories – print news, traditional books and online ‘micro-blogging’ – indicates the difficulty of the task for the legal system.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 12th April 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“An author who tried to sue a father of three from the West Midlands over comments made in a series of unfavourable reviews on Amazon is facing a six figure legal bill after a judge struck out his case.”
The Indpendent, 4th April 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“An article in the People newspaper claiming Charlotte Church had drunkenly proposed to her boyfriend at a pub karaoke night could be seen as defamatory because she was a ‘star’, a high court judge has ruled.”
The Guardian, 28th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A student who made racially offensive comments about footballer Fabrice Muamba on Twitter has been jailed for 56 days – the latest case where a comment made on social media has landed someone in court.”
BBC News, 28th March 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“It was coincidental that this cricket libel case and Lady Justice Arden’s speech on media intrusion and human rights ‘Striking the Balance’ came out on the same day.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 28th March 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“The RMT union is threatening Boris Johnson with legal action over a poster it claims portrays leader Bob Crow as ‘corrupt, venal and scandalous’.”
BBC News, 26th March 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The former New Zealand cricket captain Chris Cairns has been awarded £90,000 in damages after allegations on Twitter that he was involved in match-fixing.”
BBC News, 26th March 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“In a unanimous decision ([2012] UKSC 11) the Supreme Court allowed the appeal of Times Newspapers Limited against a decision of the Court of Appeal ([2010] EWCA Civ 804) which had held that it could not rely on Reynolds qualified privilege. The Supreme Court restored the decision of Mr Justice Tugendhat ([2009] EWHC 2375 (QB)) who had ruled, on the hearing of a preliminary issue, that the Times was entitled to rely on the defence of Reynolds qualified privilege in relation to the printed publication of the article about the claimant.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd March 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd [2012] UKSC 11; [2012] WLR (D) 93
“A publisher was protected from liability for defamation when it published an article containing allegations of corruption against a named police officer, even though the allegations were subsequently held to be unfounded, if it could be shown that the issues raised in the article were matters of public interest and that at the time of publication it appeared to the publishers that there was a strong circumstantial case for believing the allegations to be true.”
WLR Daily, 21st March 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The supreme court’s unanimous decision in Flood v Times Newspapers, handed down on Wednesday, gives some comfort to the media in what are otherwise gloomy times for journalists when the reputation of the news gathering and reporting trade, mid-Leveson inquiry, is hanging by a thread and the threat of statutory regulation looms large.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Charlotte Church’s libel action in relation to a story in the People that she drunkenly proposed to her boyfriend can be heard after Mirror Group Newspapers failed in a high court application to get her case struck out.”
The Guardian, 15th March 2012
Soruce: www.guardian.co.uk
“Steve McFadden, the actor who plays Phil Mitchell in EastEnders, has received an apology and undisclosed damages from the publisher of the now closed News of the World over an article in the paper that falsely suggested that he was guilty of violent conduct towards his former girlfriend.”
The Guardian, 12th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Tonight’s topic is Free Speech and how privacy and libel law may impact on this cherished right.”
Charon QC, 9th March 2012
Source: www.charonqc.wordpress.com
“Charon QC” is the blogging pseudonym of Mike Semple Piggot, editor of insitelaw newswire.
“Internet service providers (ISPs) and other “online intermediaries” could be forced to act as go-betweens in defamation disputes on the internet in a bid to resolve cases before they reach court, the Government has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 6th March 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“Google was not responsible for allegedly defamatory comments posted on its blogging platform because it could not be said to be a publisher of the information, the High Court has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 5th March 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“With the Leveson inquiry into media ethics and practices attracting so much attention, it was easy to overlook another contribution to the debate about media law last week: the government’s response to the draft defamation bill.”
The Guardian, 5th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The father of Baby P has been awarded £75,000 in damages after the People falsely claimed he was a convicted sex offender.”
The Guardian, 5th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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