Law - 3 November

Confidentiality and Privacy was the subject of law this week. These are laws that keep changing so we need to keep up to date.

Privacy is linked to Articles 8 and 10 of the Human Rights Convention. Article 8 is that everyone has the right to a private life and 10 is freedom of speech.

Confidentiality is linked to the Official Secrets Act 1989. This is a criminal offence to disclose official information without lawful permission. You can find more about the act at, http://www.ros.gov.uk/foi/staff_handbook/Official_secrets.html. We can not use the public interest defence and the offence itself is punishable by 14 years in prison.

This can be done easily as a journalist if you are filming for a story on an army base or a submarine for example. As if you film or take pictures of a prohibited space you will be in breach of the official secrets act.

The PCC's definition of Public Interest includes, but is not confined to the following:

• Detecting or exposing crime of serious impropriety.
• Protecting public health and safety.
• Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation. -> This is the defence we will rely on most.

With confidentiality you are allowed to keep secrets as long as they are not against the publics interest. A doctor, employee, lawyer etc can commit a breach of confidence if they discuss a secret with a third person. This is third party breach of confidence, when you are told a secret that was between two people.

It is fine to publish this secret but you have to talk to the person the secret is about and inform them of the fact that you are going to publish it. If you do not inform them before it is published they will be able to sue you. As a side note, when contacting them, never say, "you have possession of the information," but that, "you have seen the document." However, it is a catch 22 as if the secret is big enough to publish it is probably big enough for them to get an injunction from a judge. This will mean that you will not be able to name and shame them. Their identity must be kept secret. This is only a delaying tactic though as it will then go to court and the judge will decide if it is in the public interest to know this or not. The case can go on for years and will cost a lot so this may dissuade some editors from having it published.

A super injunction can also be taken out and this means that not only does the person the secret is about has anonymity but you can not print the story or anything about the injunction. It is completely 100 percent anonymity to everyone, no one can talk about it.

A secret is only confidential when all the following points have been ticked. If any one of them are missing it is not confidential.

• The quality of the confidence, this can not be a rumour.
• If the secret was provided in circumstances imposing obligation. For example, a normal reasonable person would think it would be kept secret.
• No permission to pass on the information given.
• Detriment is likely to be caused to the person who gave the information.

Privacy

Article 8 states: 'Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.'

Privacy mainly affects magazines and tabloids as they are more based on celebrity and their private lives.

You must have consent when filming someone or taking their picture. There are two types of consent.

• Explicit consent - The person has signed a contract. Or a release document. This will be useful if you think that the person may sue you at a later date; as you will have written proof of their consent.
• Implicit consent - They are looking in to the camera so they know that they are being filmed. You can also ask them to consent on the camera too as this would be good evidence of their consent if you were to be sued.

The case for privacy is Princess Caroline of Monaco. She campaigned for injunctions to stop the paparazzi from continuously filming her in every day life.

After initially failing in court she then won on her second appeal for privacy. The ECHR ruling was that there is no legitimate public interest in knowing the whereabouts and behaviour of individuals generally, despite their fame or being in public. A legitimate expectation of protection of ones private life is to be extended to the criteria for assessment. A fair balance is to be struck between the right to privacy and the freedom of the press.

Photo By: RestrictedData

Law - 28 October

Peter Hodges was our guest lecturer this week. He was the Head of Rights at the BBC but is now independent. He covered copyright and fair dealing with us.

Copyright covers everything from music to film, from the performers to pictures and everything in-between. Copyright covers the object or person as soon as it is published. Showing a film you have made to a friend is not subject to copyright but once you have published it to the internet or put it on to a DVD for viewing this is then copyrighted. A DVD is subject to copyright for 50 years after it has been published and a book is out of copyright 70 years after the author dies.

We should have release forms and get any interviewee or performer to sign these. As well as anyone that may be in your shot. Only for educational reasons are you allowed to use copyrighted products but out of education everything has to be checked for usage. For example if you film a busker singing Lady Gaga you will need the buskers permission to show the filming and Lady Gaga's people's permission for her music.

If you want to use a book or extract from a book the author must give written consent.

We watched two films. An opera called La Traviata and a film called Conspiracy Theory. Watching these we had to pick up on everything that was copyrighted and so would need to be checked. From these we gathered that each individual actor, the music, the composers, the costume designers, the set people and sometimes even the lighting people are credited. Everything that you would normally look over is actually copyrighted and needs to be in the credits.

Fair dealing is when you are allowed to use a small amount of footage from a film, music video, game etc for free. As long as you credit the company and the person you are allowed to use this. Just make sure it is only a few seconds and no longer. A great example of fair dealing is in Ewan and Grahams game piece where they are reviewing games and have a small amount of footage from the games in the review.

Picture by: Mikeblogs

Law - 13 October

This week was libel and defamation.

You can commit libel if you do any of the following:

1. Defamation

2. Identification

3. Publication

Defamation is when you write an article that defames someone or a company. Defaming someone means you have damaged their reputation. To be accused of defaming someone it has to be proven. You can also be accused of defamation through slander.

Identification, this is when a particular person is named. This can be an accidental problem through jigsaw identification. This is when you tell the story with all the facts but you explain enough that the reader can understand who it is. Jigsaw identification can be done accidentally so when writing a script telling facts about the defendant you have to be careful you don't explain too much.

Publication is when the article/programme is viewed by more than one person. When published on the Internet each load of the page is another publication.

For each of these ways of defamation there are ways in which to defend yourself against it. You only need one of these defences but the more you have the more covered you are.

Justification is when what you have said is true and you can prove it. You need to be able to prove this though. This is one reason you should always keep all your rushes and notes. Especially if your notes are in short hand. This makes your evidence more believable.

Comment is your second defence against defamation. This is when it is the writers opinion. This has to be shown as definite opinion however. Many newspapers have a header at the top of the page saying comment or opinion. Sometimes guest editors also fall in to this category, especially in magazines where they get many celebrities to write a page of opinion on other celebrities, styles, fashion etc.

Qualified privilege is when what you have written has been said in court. If you are going to report something defamatory and plan on using qualified privilege as your defence you must report fast, accurately and fair. The offended person does not have to show that they have been harmed but do have to show that they have suffered.

Common Law Qualified Privilege is a form of the above but it does not have to be said in court. This can be used is the following conditions have been met. The public need to hear about it, this is something that you do not need to prove. It has to be without any malice at all. The article itself and EVERYTHING you have ever written before. You should never write with malice anyway but if you have any article with malice in, you can not use common law qualified privilege. Again, everything must be fast, accurate and fair; and, for good measure there must be reasonable suspicion.

Picture By: Mr T in DC

Law - 6 October

This week was, reporting crime in the courts. Everything results down to the following two risks, prejudice and contempt. Being prejudice means, writing an article that may not be in the defendants favour and giving the readers an opinion. Especially when it is before the defendant has been proven guilty or not. They have to have a fair trial and and being prejudice in an article is when anything mentioned contaminates the trial or the defendant.

Contempt of court is what happens when you actually are prejudice in your article. Contempt or court can allow a person to go free from the crime they may have committed as they will not be given a free trial. The person who wrote and published the article could then face jail themselves.

When a case becomes ACTIVE legally is as soon as an arrest has been made. As soon as this happens you can be in contempt of court. From here on you can be in contempt of court:

- When police make an arrest,

- When an arrest warrant has been issued,

- A summons has been issued by Magistrates,

- A person has been charged.

Detention without charge is when police have 24 hours to question a suspect. A senior officer can extend this by 12 hours and a terror suspect can be held for a limit of 28 days.

Before the trial you can report on the following seven points:

- Names, ages, addresses and occupation of the defendant,

- Charges faced or a close summary,

- Name of the court and Magistrates names,

- Names of the solicitors or barristers present,

- Any arrangement of bail,

- Date and place to where the case is adjourned, and,

- Whether any legal aid was operated.

The key stages of the trial are:

- The prosecution opening,

- Key prosecution witnesses,

- Defence opening,

- Key defence witnesses,

- Judges summing up,

- Jury sent out, deliberation and the verdict,

- The sentencing.

If you attend the prosecution opening you must then attend the defence opening. Whether you decide to report on it or not, you must attend both.

Other knowledge that you need to know when reporting on the courts are the categories of offence and the Magistrates power.

A Magistrate is a civil officer who lays out the law. They administer sentences and only deal with criminal law. Civil cases will not make it up this far in the chain of the courts. See previous blog, dated 29 September.

The categories of offence are, indictable only, which is a possible sentence of five years plus. Either-way can go to Crown or Magistrates court. Summary, stays with the Magistrates court.

At the Magistrates court, you can have the following sentences, these are the powers of the Magistrates.

- 6 months jail

- Fines up to £5000

- Suspended sentences. This is when the defendant would have been given their sentencing but when the Magistrate suspends it they are on probation. On this probationary period if they do not break the law the Magistrate will throw out the sentence.

- Conditional Discharge. This is when the defendant is not punished but they have to comply with some conditions. If these conditions are met the discharge will become absolute where the defendant can walk free. Even if they have been proven guilty they may not be punished if they meet their conditions.

- Community orders - binding over. This is where the defendant is forced to serve their punishment in the community. They are not sent to prison but if they do not meet their conditions they may then go to jail and be punished there. Sometimes the community order may also mean that the defendant has to directly amend their behaviour to the victim and change their own behaviour so that they do not re-offend. This could be rehab for a drug addiction.

- ASBO's, (Anti-social behaviour order) This is a civil order against the defendant, who has consistently shown anti-scocial behaviour in their community. It has many restrictions on the person with the ASBO.

Always have to report fairly, accurate and contemporaneous. This means that if you are a daily newspaper you have to report on the proceedings daily or if you're monthly you have to report on it in each issue unless the case has finished.

You can also not give any name or information that will identify anyone under the age of 18. This can be allowed if you go to the judge and actually ask. One example of this is the Jon Venables case.

Picture by: ex_libris_gul

Law - 29 September

This week was my first law lecture for over a year and I am sorry to say my McNaes book was more than a little dusty. I loved law in my first year and I think I will this year too. This week we learnt mostly about the court systems and the courts themselves.

There are six main courts that are used. The main difference between them is whether they are criminal or civil. This website shows a diagram which shows the hierarchy really well, http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/lrsp/overview/law_reports.php

The Criminal courts are (in order from the bottom up): The Magistrates court, The Crown Court, Court of Appeal, House of Lords. Criminal courts deal with cases of murder, theft, fraud etc and this where the cases are bought to be heard in front of the state, the DPP. (Director of Public Prosecutions) Since 2008 Keir Stammer QC has been the DPP of England and Wales.

The Civil Law courts are: County Courts, The High Court and then it goes in to the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. It is at the Court of Appeal where criminal and civil law converge. Civil law covers divorces and consumer, agricultural and employment laws, etc.

The courts are different between England and Wales (being one system) and Scotland. Scotland have a lot of different laws. They are able to vote on most of our laws but England and Wales have no say on any of their laws which makes it very one sided and also does not help England and Wales vey much. Scotland could help pass through a law that most of England do not want or on the other hand could give more numbers to a minority that do not want a law to go ahead.

The only court that covers England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland is the Supreme Court which is at the very top of the chain.

Exam Scam and Law!

After reading the beloved Sun newspaper, I came across an article that took my fancy. As I am a student and have to take the dreaded exams after months of study, revision and worry I was shocked to see the amount of students that cheat...and dont get away with it. The way in which they try to cheat I found were quite creative however. Much better than any of my ideas.

They included, hiding the answers in the toilets and then taking a toilet break to revise the answers. Writing on skin and body parts, buying coursework from better students and from the Internet, stealing a memory stick from another student and passing it off as their own work and having a 'stand-in' take the exam for them. The latter I thought was the most interesting, not even turning up for the exam yourself. You could be out shopping with friends whilst the rest of your class sit in the exam. Being reassured that someone is in your seat and giving better answers than you could have yourself.

I was also quite happy to find that Winchester didn't make the list of the cheating students. The worst University was Teeside University in Middlesbrough, (17 students caught) Middlesex University expelled 15 students and Kingston University expelled 10. Either us Winch students know the answers or we're better at not being caught.

However what made me want to blog about this article was not the ways in which to cheat or the Universities that the culprits attend but the way in which The Sun came about the information. The paper actually showed that it can perform good journalism.

We learnt about this last semester. It was the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This makes information accessible to anyone from any company, when asked for. The Sun wrote, "we submitted a Freedom of Information request to discover the most popular ways of cheating - and which campuses had the most culprits."

So as you can see The Sun does have some rare moments of journalism but, they are rare glimpses. I found, just a page over from this article a strory about Celebrity Big Brother. I found 3 spelling mistakes and 2 punctuation problems. Happy Reading fellow Bloggers.

Law: Inside and Out

I thought that I would post an entire blog devoted to my revision cards on Law. If I have anything wrong please let me know. Also they may be helpful for other people too. I have all ready written a blog on definitions so I'll try not to repeat myself. In this blog I am hoping to address the key points of the most important parts of Journalism Law to study.

LIBEL

Libel is, a three point list, any of these may be done. They are: 1. defmamation - publish something about someone that defames them or slander. 2. identification - a particualr person is named, pictured or with jigsaw identification - put the facts out but when reading the article or watching the broadcast you can put together the facts and identify the one person. 3. Publication - this means that is going out to more than one person. If it is publicated on the internet, each time the site is viewed it is publicated again.

There are three defences for this. You only have to have one, although more would help your cause if you were ever in this position. 1. Justification - it is true and you can prove it. 2. Comment - It is in your opinion as the writer that what you have written is your opinion and not a fact. On the page of your article you must have comment or opinion. This was you can not be sued, with a reader presuming your opinion is a fact. 3. Qualified Privilege - this is when the comment has been said in court. If you are going to report on this it must be fair, fast and accurate. * The offended person doesn't have to show that they have been harmed but they do have to show that they have suffered.

COMMON LAW QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE

There is another form of qualified privilege which is, Common Law Qualified Privilege. This came about by the Clegg Case. I will provide links at the bottom so you can go into each case in more detail than what I am providing. The Clegg case is a soldier that stopped some drunken youths from driving in Northern Ireland. They gave him abuse and so he shot them thinking that they were terrorists. The 'Free Clegg Campaign' said that the solicitors prosecuting him were the IRA. This defamed the solicitors and so they sued the campaign group. Surprisingly the campaign group won. They won because the comment was made in a public meeting. It was publicated to a third party but it wasn't malice, it arose in a public meeting. There is also freedom of expression within this case. This is Common Law Qualified Privilege (CLQP).

The points for it be understood as CLQP are: 1. it is so important that the public need to hear about it. Whether you can prove it or not. 2. it has to be without malice, including everything you have ever written before.3. the facts must be accurate. Also, as an added extra there must be reasonable suspicion.

DEFAMATION
There is another 3 point list, however i think that you only need to have one of the following points to make it defamatory, not all of them, the same with the 3 point list for libel. They are: 1. the article/broadcast could expose someone to ridicule, contempt or hatred. 2. cause them to be shunned or avoided. 3. demeaning in their profession. The plaintiff has one year to gather their evidence, KEEP ALL YOUR NOTES for a minimum of this time.

CONFIDENTIALITY

If you are committing breach of contract you will be ticking these boxes: 1. quality of confidence, not just tittle tattle 2. it is imparted in circumstances implying confidentiality. 3. you will need authorisation to use it or you will be committing detriment - they must prove that they have been hurt by it. A case that fits in well is the Graham Pink case. He was nurse that worked for the NHS. He spoke to a newspaper but because of the gagging clause in his job contract he was fired. This was a breach of his contract and the NHS' confidentiality.

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT

This governs the way the elections are held. When broadcasting the channel must give equal air time to all parties over an amount of time. Yes this means allowing the BNP on the television too.

COPYRIGHT

We (journalists) exploit the law of copyright - it has to be news to be sold and it has to original to be copyrighted.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

(FOIA) This is the right to obtain documents from companies. Simply phone the company and they must send you the relevant information that you have asked for.

PRIVACY - Article 8

Every person has the right to a normal family life. With privacy the best case to use would be Princess Carolina. The judge ruled that journalists cant take pictures of anyone unless they are given permission or if the person is doing a clear public duty. There are two types of consent: 1. you have to have explicit consent. This is written consent by the person in picture. 2. implicit consent - the area is likely to filmed or pictured. For example a live football match. There will definitely be cameras here. For an added point it is quite good to get the person to look into the camera. This way it will be shown on your rushes that they knew that the camera was there and that they were being filmed. If you film someone and they don't know this could be classed as subterfuge.

Subterfuge is when you are not honest. A journalist should always be upfront and tell the interviewee who they are, who they write for and their job. If this isn't done the person could sue. Rushes that are not known about by the interviewee will not be able to be used in court.

When on private land it isn't trespassing unless you have forced your way on to the grounds. There can also be no forced used when trying to escort you from the premises unless they think that you are going to commit a crime. This is thanks to the Tony Martin Law. The Tony Martin Law came about after the farmer with this name shot at two burglars that he found in his house. He was sentenced for man-slaughter after one of them men died of a shot in his back and the other was shot in the leg; he however only got sentenced a few years and recovered well.

Another case that can be used for privacy is the Max Mosley case. The News of The World reported that he had an orgy with 5 girls in a Nazi fashion. Interestingly he is the son of Oswald Mosley who marched with the black shirts to a Jewish part of town in London and started a fight just before the second World War. Mosley took NOTW to court and won. The judge said that he won because the activities he took part in did not involve Nazi role play.

TEN POINT LIST

Lord Nicholls set down a listof pointers to publications indicating what courts would look at to decide if the defence could be claimed. The courts will also examine whether the defendant can claim to have engaged in "responsible journalism" and "neutral reportage". Libel can be a criminal offence as well as a civil wrong. The ten point list is: 1.it must be a serious matter, the more serious the matter the more protected you will be. 2. the nature of the information - if it is likely to be said in court, even if it is defamatory and not malicious. 3. the source of the information, it has to be a solid source. 4. you must be able to show that you have taken steps to check and dissprove it. 5. the status of the information must be important and printed as soon as posisble. Not on a slow news day. 6. did you give them a chance to deny it? The final phonecall - allow them to say "no comment". 7. whether the article has the summary of the final phonecall. 8. the tone of the article. 9. the circumstances of the publication. 10. everything must be accurate, precise and facts. Cases that go well with the ten point list are the Galloway case and the Jamil case.

MAGISTRATES COURTS

Family disputes are handled here. All crimes have to go through a magistrates court, they will either deal with it themselves or pass it on to the crown courts. Non-indictable - minor fines - summary justice - parking tickets and Either-way - breaking and entering.

CROWN COURT

If the sentence can be 5 years or over - indictable offences (very offensive). Cases get referred here from the Magistrates Court. Between Magistrates and Crown court they will be released on bail or on rimand if there is fear of them absconding.

I hope that I have been of some help and that it's not all wrong. Good Luck for the test.

Sites to view the cases mentioned in more detail.

Max Mosley - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7523034.stm

Princess Carolina - http://www.out-law.com/page-4663

The Clegg Case - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/feb/01/northernireland.nicholaswatt3

Everything about Everything about our Law Exam

This is more or less just a recap of Tuesdays lesson. Thought however that it may worth posting as some people may not have been there or missed a couple of explanations.

The test itself is an hour long. 5 questions. 10 minutes for each question. Need only 40 % to pass.

Some key points to revise from McNaes -

Defamation, the: PCC, Ofcom and the BBC codes of conduct, Libel, the 10 point test, these are just a few important ones, these are one to try and go revise in quite a bit of detail as you could be asked about something specific.

The rest now are definitions of words that either could come up in the exam, or you may just need to know so that you can refer to it, when answering another question. For example if you had a question on Libel you may also want to refer to qualified privilege. Therefore a good understanding of all the definitions could be very useful. Even if they just give you an overview of what it means.

Libel - An article or broadcast that identifies someone, defames them and is published to a third person. (Publication, identification, defamation.) The only defence against libel is, qualified privilege.

3 defences for Libel-

1. 
   It is true and you can prove it.
2. It is only comment, an honest opinion based on fact, without malice.
3. Qualified privilege
   

Qualified Privilege - When a comment is made in active court, in front of a BRITISH judge. If you write an article about a point made in court you must write it fast, accurately and fairly.

Malice - Writing or broadcasting anything that you know is not true. If taken to court and sued for malice you are not allowed defend yourself. You will not be given a chance.

Public Interest - Exposing something for the public interest. However if you are broadcasting you need prior consent needed from Ofcom. A proper definition of public interest can be found in the PCC's code of conduct. We are the 4th estae, we have to watch the first 3.

Inuendo - Making an allegation with absoloutly no evidence. Implying that it is a fact is also a form of malice and if sued you will not be able to defend yourself.

Juxtaposition - In English terms it is putting two words next to each other that are opposites such as "bitter sweet" however in Journalism it means putting two stories next to each other, on the same page that could be linked. For example, putting Gordon Browns picture next to a headline, "Man murders party people". This could be construde as inuendo, that Gordon Brown was the man that murdered the party people. This could also allow for you being sued.

Defamation - A story or comment that lowers peoples reputation, with or without justification. True or not. One problem with defamation is that it is very broad and many things could be said to be defamatory. There is a 3 point list that make it defamatory -

1. Could expose someone to ridicule, contempt or hatred.
2. Cause them to be shunned and avoided. E.g. saying that someone has Aids.
3. Demeaning in their profession.

Slander - This is defamation between 2 people speaking. This is very hard to prove as it is hard to get evidence. The person has to be identified but it doesn't have to be published.

Plaintiff - They have 1 year from the article/broadcast was published, to gather their evidence. this means that you have to keep all of your notes for at the very least of one year, if you do not have the notes and rushes it will look as if you are lying.

Subterfuge - This is when you are not honest. You have to declare: who you are, your job, who you work for and when the article/broadcast will be published. If you do not do this you are comitting subterfuge.

Your only defence of subterfuge is if you can not get the story any other way and you have tried, and that it is overwhelmingly in the case of public interest. If you are broadcasting you will need to tell Ofcom prior to comitting the subterfuge and get their permission.

I hope that you all find these notes useful for your revision cards. Remember the test is on the morning of 15th, the same day as our HCJ unseen class test. Also remember that Chris said if you fail miserably you can resit and commit one case of plagiarism, thus meaning you can copy someone with 100% and you'll get the same mark without it going against you, yay!

Good Luck

Locked Up

After my very first lesson on Law and Ethics in Journalism, I am 100% sure that I am going to be Chris Horrie's very first student sent to jail. There are so many slip-ups, that, me-being-me am sure to make.

With many instances that occur with my mum or sister I feign complete innocence and that I never knew what I was doing was wrong. Something that I can not do as a Journalist. Or, you guessed it, I'm off to prison.

I'm also always the person that has her mobile on her at the wrong moments. Such as theatres, in the cinema or in an exam; yes I'm the one that has to make the long walk up to the front to put my mobile away. This being a casual thing that happens to me all the time, is a very definite way of me being in contempt of Court.

Being sued for Libel is the only one I am not worried about. I personally do not want to write malicious things about people. I also do not want to write for the gossip magazines, even though, I do enjoy to read them every now and again.

I'm looking forward to my next Law and Ethics class, I need to pay attention and keep myself from being arrested!