Media Law; An Overview

The Legal Framework In The UK
The highest court in the United Kingdom is the Supreme Court. There are 12 justices and it sits in the Middlesex Guildhall on the western side of Parliament Square. It deals with both civil and criminal cases.

The hierarchy of the courts is in order below from least important to most important; as well as the cases it deals with;

Magistrates court - civil and criminal; trys summary offences such as parking tickets, common assault and low scale shoplifting, family courts, youth courts etc. Maximum sentence is six months and maximum fine of £2,500.

County court - civil.

Crown court - criminal; trys indictable offences such as rape, GBH and murder, deals with appeals from Magistrates courts and also deals with sentencing. Minimum sentence of five years.

High court - family, chancery, Queen's Bench (civil and criminal).

Court of Appeal - civil division, criminal division.

    Supreme court - civil and criminal.

Civil law is disputes between individuals or organisations, i.e. divorce or property use disputes. The defendant can not be sent to jail in a civil matter, unless they don't adhere to the final ruling; then it is contempt of court and turns into a criminal matter.

CIVIL LAW TERMINOLOGY - claimant, defendant, admitting liability, denying liability, liable, not liable.

Criminal law is an offence against a person and/or a community, i.e. murder or theft. The defendant can be sent to jail in a criminal matter. Criminal matters always start in a Magistrates court. They can then be referred to a Crown court or the Supreme Court.

CRIMINAL LAW TERMINOLOGY - prosecutor, defendant, guilty, not guilty, convicted, acquitted.

The test of proof between criminal law and civil law is different. In criminal law, to prosecute it must proved it beyond reasonable doubt. In civil law, it comes down to the balance of probability.

Sources of law in the UK include;

• EU law
• Judiciaries
• Common law
• Case law
• Statutes

Reporting Crime and the Courts

Prejudice is where publication of certain information may compromise the fair treatment of the accused during a trial, for instance, if a jury learns background information about those on trial.

Contempt is where information is published in breach of the rules in crime or court reporting; it has a high risk of prejudicing legal trials.

A case becomes legally active when;

• a person is arrested,
• an arrest warrant is issued,
• a summons is issued or
• a person is charged orally.
  
  

 A case is legally closed when;

• the arrested person is released without charge - except on bail,
• no arrest was made within 12 months of the issue of an arrest warrant,
• the case is discontinued,
• the defendant is acquitted or sentenced,
• the defendant is found to be unfit to be tried, or unfit to plead, or the courts orders the charge to lie on file.

Four stages of reporting and processing a case are as follow;

ONE - The crime is reported, police are appealing for witnesses, descriptions are issued. All of this is okay to print with no risk of prejudice.

TWO - The case becomes legally active and there is risk of prejudice. Seek advice before you publish information.

THREE - A trial is a definite prospect and only definite, uncontested facts can be printed. You can print a community angle, 'colour' article, such a flowers at the scene etc.

FOUR - The magistrates court hearing; restricted to reporting seven points!

- Names, ages, addresses and occupations of defendants

- Charges faced

- Names of courts and magistrates name

- Date and place of where case is adjourned

- Whether bail is granted or not

- Whether legal aid is granted

There are three main types of offence;

• Indictable; murder, rape, GBH
• Either-way; aggravated theft, drugs, ABH
• Summary; minor shoplifting, driving offences, parking tickets

The purpose of a Section 49 Order is to give anonymity to under 18s in youth court.

The purpose of a Section 39 Order is to give anonymity to under 18s in adult court.

If the jury is not present in a Crown court, the proceedings must not be reported. Absolute privilege is granted to a journalist in court if the report is 'fair, accurate and contemporaneous'. Defamatory shouts from the public gallery are not to be reported.

You can not prejudice a judge or a magistrates court as there is no jury.

A jury decides whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty whereas the judge decides the penalty.

Libel and Defamation

Slander is when someone says something defamatory. 

Libel is when someone publishes something defamatory;

• Publication
• Defamatory
• Identification; even if jigsaw identification or innuendo.

A defamatory statement is something that would make a person 'tend' to;

• lower them in the eyes of right-thinking society
• causes them to be shunned and avoided
• discredits them in their profession
• exposes them to hate, ridicule or contempt

Libel defences include;

Justification - it's true and I can prove it.

Fair or honest comment - it's made clear that is only opinion and it is in the public interest for this opinion to be published.

Qualified/absolute privilege - court reporting etc.

TV journalists need to be extra careful because they may accidentally identify someone in a defamatory way with the shots they use; such as noticeable things like posters in a hospital on a documentary about malpractice.

Public interest means where it is to the advantage of the public to know certain information.

Privilege

Privilege is very important to journalists, it gives them protection when reporting day to day things such as; council hearings, public meetings, press conferences and police statements.

It allows journalists to publish material that may be defamatory or untrue without any legal worries as long as the information is printed 'fair, accurate, without malice and on a matter of public concern'.

There are two levels of qualified privilege, with or without contradiction and explanation.

An example of QP without explanation or contradiction would be proceedings of a legislature anywhere in the world.

An example of QP with explanation or contradiction would be material reported at a public meeting.

Copyright
Copyright - the exclusive legal right given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform film, or record literary, artistic, or music material and to authorise others to do the same.

Intellectual property is essentially work. Even if it is not a physical object, it is a person's property; unless they sell it. The entire purpose of copyright it to protect intellectual property. Without copyright, journalism as an industry could not exist.

Undeveloped ideas, however, are not protected by copyright statutes. This also includes brief slogans and catchphrases.

Fair dealing allows some media outlets to lift journalistic material IF;

• It tells the news and is intrinsic
• It is not passed off as your own
• The usage is fair
• The material is in the public interest

Copyright is criminal conspiracy, it is not a civil case.

Material taken from the Internet is still subject to copyright and you can not fair deal photographs.

Confidentiality

The law of confidentiality is between the parties in which a 'secret' is told.

The law depends on each person's expectation of the level of confidentiality. For instance, a doctor has complete confidentiality to a patient. A patient could tell a doctor they committed murder and the doctor would not be able to say anything, as the same with a lawyer.

A parent would breach confidentiality to their child if the child, for instance, the child told the parent they had a venereal disease and the parent proceeded to tell someone else. However, if a child told a parent they committed murder, the parent would be expected to tell the police. This is one way however, a child owes not confidentiality to their parent.

There are three main areas of concern for journalists when it comes to confidentiality;

• revealing state/official secrets (one)
• revealing commercial secrets (two)
• revealing facts about a person that they expect to remain private (three)

ONE - The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets, for instance information on a military base or anything that would be of use to an enemy. Be cautious when using pictures that could be informative to an enemy.

TWO - Commercial confidentiality is normally written in the contract between an employee and an employer. It will cover, for example, not giving useful financial information to competitors.

THREE - Personal confidences and privacy is also protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Journalists can publish certain information if it falls under the public interest. When a journalist thinks they've found newsworthy confidential information, they must decide whether to risk an injunction or having legal action taken against them for breach of confidence; perhaps even defamation if they allegations are inaccurate.

Regulatory Codes

This covers how journalists should go about getting a story and general journalistic etiquette. There are three different regulatory codes used in journalism.

These are;

OFCOM - can impose large fines, can take shows offline, covers radio and television but not Sky, requires absolute accuracy and impartiality.

BBC Editorial Guidelines and Press Complaints Commission (PCC) - self regulatory, quick, cheap and easy but also has limited fines.

Reporting Elections

Impartiality and accuracy is vital around elections times as journalists could influence the public on who to vote for.

The danger area for journalists when it comes to reporting elections are;

• False statements about candidates
• Maintaining impartiality
• Reporting opinion polls or exit polls

Major party and minor party candidates do not have to be treated equally.

It is an offence to refer to exit polls until the polls are closed.

There must be no coverage of political debates or arguments by the candidates or parties on polling day.

Investigative Journalism and Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act came into place in 2005 and allows the public to access information they previously wouldn't have been able to from public authorities. This helps investigative journalists in particular.

Investigative journalism is when journalist's themselves uncover stories, rather than just covering the current news. Journalist's can now simply send a request for certain information to a public body and receive an answer now that the Act has been passed, making their job a lot easier than before.

There are two types of investigative journalism; light and heavy. Light investigative journalism is often about celebrities or current stars, about there bullying rampages at schools, botched plastic surgery or pictures of them on a drunken night out. They can usually get this kind of information from family, 'friends' or associates. Heavy investigative journalism includes the more serious news, such as miscarriages of justice, public authorities misusing money or political scandals. This information is often gained through the allowance of the Freedom of Information Act.

Tony Blair, the man who passed the Act, said himself that he regretted passing the Freedom of Information Act; too many people have too much access to the skeleton's in everyone's closet.

The Act covers 130,000 public bodies, receives over 100,000 requests a year; 12% of these requests are made by journalists. The estimated cost spent on FOI requests a year is approximately £34 million.

A public body can refuse to give information under the following circumstances;

• The request costs more than £450 for small institutions, or more than £600 for larger institutions.
• The information requested comes under the Official Secrets Act
• The information requested is exempt; either absolute or qualified.

Absolution exemption means the public body does not have the duty to confirm or deny that information even exists, for instance, court records or security services.

Qualified exemption means the public body does not necessarily have to release certain information, however, if public interest overrules then it should be released, for instance, commercial confidentiality and ministerial communication.

You can submit of Freedom of Information request at www.whatdotheyknow.com

However, sometimes investigative journalists won't always obtain their information this way. Some may receive leaked information from a certain source; being a person. One of the most important unwritten rules is to never, ever give up a source. If you give up a source, you're dead in the industry, no one will look at you the same and you may as well start looking for a new career. If you're not willing to go to prison to protect your source, then you shouldn't take the information.

Confidentiality - Breach of Confidence

What does confidentiality mean it ordinary every day language mean? A secret.

The law of confidentiality is between the parties in which a 'secret' is told.

The law depends on each person's expectation of the level of confidentiality. For instance, a doctor has complete confidentiality to a patient. A patient could tell a doctor they committed murder and the doctor would not be able to say anything, as the same with a lawyer.

A parent would breach confidentiality to their child if the child, for instance, the child told the parent they had a venereal disease and the parent proceeded to tell someone else. However, if a child told a parent they committed murder, the parent would be expected to tell the police. This is one way however, a child owes not confidentiality to their parent.

There are three main areas of concern for journalists when it comes to confidentiality;

• revealing state/official secrets (one)
• revealing commercial secrets (two)
• revealing facts about a person that they expect to remain private (three)

ONE - The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets, for instance information on a military base or anything that would be of use to an enemy. Be cautious when using pictures that could be informative to an enemy.

TWO - Commercial confidentiality is normally written in the contract between an employee and an employer. It will cover, for example, not giving useful financial information to competitors.

THREE - Personal confidences and privacy is also protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Journalists can publish certain information if it falls under the public interest. When a journalist thinks they've found newsworthy confidential information, they must decide whether to risk an injunction or having legal action taken against them for breach of confidence; perhaps even defamation if they allegations are inaccurate.

Copyright

Copyright - the exclusive legal right given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform film, or record literary, artistic, or music material and to authorise others to do the same.

Intellectual property is essentially work. Even if it is not a physical object, it is a person's property; unless they sell it. The entire purpose of copyright it to protect intellectual property. Without copyright, journalism as an industry could not exist.

Undeveloped ideas, however, are not protected by copyright statutes. This also includes brief slogans and catchphrases.

Fair dealing allows some media outlets to lift journalistic material IF;

• It tells the news and is intrinsic
• It is not passed off as your own
• The usage is fair
• The material is in the public interest

Copyright is criminal conspiracy, it is not a civil case.

Material taken from the Internet is still subject to copyright and you can not fair deal photographs.

Leveson Enquiry; What Do You Need To Know?

This week was the result that any aspiring/current/previous journalist has been anticipating... the Leveson enquiry result.

The report itself is 2,000 pages long and I doubt many will ever end up reading it in it's entirety, but here are the basic points;

A new press regulator should be set up, governed by a new Press Board to replace to PCC (The Press Complaints Commission). The board is to be independently set up by an appointments panel and should not include any serving editor or member of parliament or government.

This new board should create a new code of conduct for published journalists which should cover privacy, misrepresentation and accuracy. For those not adhering to this code of conduct, the regulator should have the power to control the details newspaper apologies including sizes and placings, impose fines of up to £1 million or 1% of the newspaper's turnover. However, the board should not have the power to ban the publication of articles.

The regulator should be backed up by a press law which forces newspapers to be included. Any newspaper that refuses to take part in the scheme would be instead regulated by Ofcom.

How will this affect Rupert Murdoch? I wonder. Here is the opening paragraph of an article Murdoch's paper, The Sun, published just the day after the enquiry results were released;

"Lord Justice Leveson yesterday launched a scathing attack on politicians and newspapers as he called for Britain's first Press law in 317 YEARS.'

Seems as if someone is a bit sore about the whole thing...

A Little Bit More on Rousseau and Romanticism

Another way to sum up Rousseau and the Romantic era - or to further your understanding - could be through music.

Here are various songs that I think accurately reflect the ideas of Rousseau and romanticism. 

The Doors - People Are Strange

The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Luciano Pavarotti - Caro Mio Ben

The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

John Lennon - Imagine

HCJ: Rousseau and Romanticism

Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1712; Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a man with a great influence in philosophy, politics and literature; right up to the present day.

He is really influential in two aspects, one in The Social Contract and secondly, he was considered the founder of romanticism. 

The rough time line of Rousseau, the romantic period and the French Revolution is shown below.

Essentially Rousseau was anti-establishment and thought society would cause nothing but a negative effect upon a human's life. He believed that the regulated systems with laws, governments and elitist groups were wrong and the 'Newtonian world'  wasn't a true of full expression of what it meant to be to be a human being. It's often said Rousseau was quintessentially anti-enlightenment - he was a noble savage.

The morals of romantics and Rousseau were both primarily based on aesthetics. Nature was incredibly important as was symbolism. Mountains, the sea and storms were all frequently mentioned. 

Although these ideas originated in the 1700s, they are far from forgotten. The 1960s saw a rebirth in Rousseau's ideas and people began to live by their own rules and started to live on the outside of society. The song below is John Lennon's song 'Imagine' released in the early 1970s and is a new age adaption of Rousseau's theory.

Below is a quote heard in The Fallacies of Hope 12/13 which also backs this point; Rousseau's ideas are still influential today.

“And perhaps its greatest legacy to prosperity has been its message to the young, and those who are strong in love may yet find a way of escaping from the rotten parchment of bonds that tie us down. I can see them still through the windows of university desperate to change the world, vivid in hope, although what precisely they hope for or believe in, I don’t know.” 

If it wasn't for Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Romantic period, the world would be a very different place. The idea of alienation by society has been picked up throughout the centuries and throughout the different eras. Rousseau was about free will, basic instinct and being as far away from society as possible; romanticism was very similar. This idealism weaves it's way through literature, political thinkings and music.