Press Council
Next Entries »Press Council bouquet
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008I’ve been hard on the Press Council lately. I tend to blog about the stuff I disagree with. But usually, I think the members of the Press Council get it right. In the latest bunch of decisions, they ping the Northern Outlook for misreporting local council committee hearings. One mistake was put right in a later story, without reference to […]
Press Council upholds Bill English complaint
Friday, March 7th, 2008Remember the kurfuffle about Bill English’s 14-year-old son posting homophobic remarks on Bebo? The Press Council says that the Southland Times’ coverage breached the paper’s duty to respect privacy of “person, space and personal information” and to exercise “particular care and consideration when reporting on and about children and young people.” The Southland Times’ front-page story was […]
More grumbling about the Press Council
Monday, February 11th, 2008A lot of lawyers I know think the Press Council is a waste of time. It’s generally pro-press, it’s poorly resourced, its decisions are sloppy, and it has no power to impose a penalty worth spit. Heck, I’ve criticised the Press Council myself in the past. But recently, I’ve been encouraging people to take another look. […]
Press Council ducks interesting issue
Sunday, February 10th, 2008If you talk to a journalist on the basis that what you say is “not for publication” and the journalist publishes your remarks anyway, has the journalist behaved unethically? I think most people would think so. In the past, the Press Council has leaned this way, too: … if the conditions under which the [source] agreed […]
Press Council review: it’s a bit weird
Thursday, November 29th, 2007The good As I said earlier, I agree whole-heartedly with almost all of the recommendations made by the reviewers of the Press Council, Sir Ian Barker and Prof Lewis Evans. Yes, scrap the requirement for complainants to sign away their rights to go to court: as the reviewers say, it’s of very doubtful legality. Hell […]
Press Council review is out
Friday, November 16th, 2007The review of the operations of the Press Council has now been released. It’s long. There’s an extensive list of recommendations, and most of them look pretty sensible to me. They involve: — a much expanded budget and administration; — new fast-track complaints mechanisms (a mediation option involving a Chief Executive, and a rapid-consideration option […]
Next Entries »