Well it has been a while, six months to be exact since I did a blog post for all you lovely people out there in the World Wide Web. No longer will my postings be about the philosophical world of HCJ, but we are back to a topic that took over the majority of my blogging life during the first year of my Journalism course at The University of Winchester; media law. Now over the last two years I have drunk enough and had enough nervous breakdowns over WINOL to possibly forget the majority of the law that us as Journalists needs to be follow, therefore it was refreshing to be able to have a recap during the first lecture for what we are to expect over the next couple of months.
This series of lectures will be taken by Ian Anderson; former editor of the BBC Ten o'clock news. That's right the man who was responsible for giving us the dulcet, Welsh tones of Huw Edwards coming into our television sets every night for the last 10 years and beyond will be telling us third years all we need to know and this time try to remember in order to become responsible Journalists and not end up in the dock for libel or my personal favourite; Contempt of Court (not saying that I am intending to end up in The Old Bailey anytime soon other then to report).
Unfortunately Ian is away training Journalists somewhere in Indonesia, so for the next two weeks we have Brian Thornton explaining to us why we need to remember as Journalists that the law is paramount for everything we do when thinking about doing a story on absolutely anything. Coming from a BBC background he explained that the team of BBC lawyers (and no they are not 7 feet tall monsters waiting to pounce on our every wrong move or not what we were told) who will look over everything that the BBC broadcasts from the 10 o'clock news to Eastenders with a fine tooth comb.
We were then treated to a short video from a lecture given by Valerie Nazareth who is the head Lawyer for the BBC. We were shown what she feels student journalists need to know about the law when entering the profession. The main three things she feel were the most vital to learn and know were Defamation, Contempt of Court and Privacy. I will in turn refresh yours and my own memory on each of these terms and how they could affect journalists.
Defamation or slander is where you can make a defamatory statement about someone, which is not just wrong, but is also personal and insulting and could lead to them being ridiculed in the minds on right thinking people and affect them in their career. For a statement to be defamatory it must be publish and the person or subject must be clearly identified. However, if the person is dead there is no one there to support them, therefore if you want to be taking the mic out of a old Laurel and Hardy sketch (which has been done many a time by Hugh Lawrie and Stephen Fry) than this is better than saying something bad about a living person.
There are four defences to defamation, which are justification, fair comment, qualified privilege (this will only defend you from Libel) and public interest. The two main example of this recently is the two stories involving the Royal Family with Prince Harry's escapades in Las Vegas and the publication of Kate Middleton without having any clothes on to cover her up. In both situations there is a strong indication of public interest as everyone is interested in the Royal Family, but then they have the right to put in any legal action against the publication of these photos and the comment made about them in the newspapers.
The main difference between the two is the justification for the Prince Harry photo's are that at the time his secret service security had been told to leave, so there was no one there to protect him and stop the photo's being taken in clear public view. However, in the case of the Kate Middleton photo's it has been proved that the pictures could only have been taken by a camera with a long zoom as the area where the photos was taken was very secluded. Therefore, there is public interest, but there is no justified reason for the pictures being taken and that is why no British newspaper has dared to publish them in fear of the legal ramifications, which would more than likely follow.
There is also the recent statement that has been released from the BBC apologising for their reporter Frank Gardener who had mentioned about a previous conversation with the Queen where she had expressed her concerns over the prolonged legal proceedings involving the deportation of the radical cleric Abu Hamza. This is what was described as "Chatham House Rules" where you can report on what was said, but you must never mention who said it as it will encourage free and open debate throughout.
The next important part of the law we need to learn is Contempt of Court. If you forget this and get anything wrong there is a strong possibility that you will be facing a short or long term in prision. There is no defence against Contempt of Court, so you need to ensure that you do not annoy the court or do anything that will interfere with a active court case. Therefore, once a case has become active do not publish that the accused is guilty before the case has concluded. It will not only end up with yourself in prison and a heavy fine, it will destroy your journalistic career before you can say shorthand. The main example of this is the case involving Chris Jeferries who was accused of killing Joanna Yates in Bristol on 17th December 2010. He was accused of the murder by the press, due to his eccentric lifestyle and how he looked, but you cannot judge someone because they look weird and have different tastes and interests than most people. This accusation destroyed his life and has left him trying to piece together the reputation he will likely never get back, due to accusation that were false and untrue.
So, remember when reporting on court cases only a fair and accurate report of the day's proceedings will be acceptable. Do not make up lies and be very careful in sensitive cases involving sexual offences and children.
The third and possible most difficult part of the law to understand and follow as journalists is Privacy as journalists we have to be careful that we are not intruding on the lives of people as this violates article 8 of the European Humans Right Act where one has the right to have a personal family life without any fear or intrusion. But, article 10 of the act gives everyone the right to free expression, which protects the press to the point in dealings of privacy, but these will be discussed further in a whole topic dedicated to Privacy later on this year.
This brought us to the final point of the lecture; The WINOL Fatal Errors system. This system protects us as student journalists from any problem we may face, but if we break any of these rules we are liable to no only failing our course, but liable to criminal prosecution. These are the five things that we are liable against and have no protection over:
1. Malice.
2. Dishonest presentation of sources/dishonest generally.
3. Causing disrepute/disruption.
4. Reckless inaccuracy in basic expression.
5. Legal problems (without justification).
6. Regulatory problems (without justification).
If any of these offences are committed do not just expect to say goodbye to a BA Journalism degree from the University of Winchester, but also expect a brief trip to Winchester Magistrates or even Crown Court sometime in the near future.
That wraps up this instalment for the week that was in TAB9's Law Lecture. Tune in next week where we will discuss privacy, confidentiality and data protection law. By the way my number is 07 (wait can not be handing out number of the internet it's a breach of date protection).
