America: Fuck yeah!
Thursday, May 6th, 2010The Onion reports on a US Supreme Court obscenity decision upholding First Amendment rights. Recommended, if only for the accompanying photograph.
The right to receive information revived…
Monday, May 3rd, 2010I have long thought that our official information laws ought to be affected by the NZ Bill of Rights Act’s guarantee of freedom of expression, which says: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form. Surely, I thought, […]
NZ’s Dunne v Canwest
Monday, May 3rd, 2010Here’s a column I wrote about the Dunne case suggesting that the media’s predictions of doom and gloom were wrong. Judging by the media reaction, Justice Young’s decision to order TV3 to include Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton in its leaders’ debate last week was one of the most astonishing blunders in judicial history. Media […]
Scotland’s Dunne v Canwest
Friday, April 30th, 2010Remember Peter Dunne’s successful legal action forcing his inclusion in TV3’s televised election debate? The Scottish National party has tried it too. Not so successfully though. [PS Decision here. A few notable things. First, it’s hard to disagree with the party’s claim that the debates really are extremely significant in determining electoral support. The Liberal Democrats’ […]
Blind, not stupid
Thursday, April 29th, 2010As Justice McGechan J put it in the Tucker case, justice should be blind, but it should not be stupid. Judges shouldn’t try to suppress information when the public know it already. The Chief Justice said the same thing in the famous “American Billionaire” case: Where information as to the identity of someone appearing before […]
The Devil’s in the detail
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010How often do you check those website boxes that say “I’ve read the terms and conditions below and agree to them”? Now, how often do you actually read the terms and conditions? Me neither. Had we signed up to Gamestation on April Fool’s day, we would have been agreeing to this: By placing an order […]
Laws confused about laws
Monday, April 26th, 2010For someone who is readily outraged by news stories that contain falsehoods about him, Michael Laws certainly doesn’t display the same regard for accuracy in his own journalism. In the Sunday Star-Times yesterday, he railed against the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, arguing that it is likely to be a potent legal force […]
Flogging content
Monday, April 26th, 2010RNZ’s Mediawatch this week looked at the ethics of the media’s practice of drawing content, including pictures, from social networking sites. Host Colin Peacock mentioned a Herald on Sunday article that pulled material from a car accident victim’s Facebook site, including a photo of him, adding: Like many people using the social networking websites these […]
Back on the block
Friday, April 23rd, 2010I’m back in Wellington after a sojourn in Melbourne for most of six months. While we’re not talking about media law, I will take the opportunity to post the alternate version of the Australian national anthem I composed for them while I was over there. I have long been impressed by the line “Our home is girt by sea”. It’s […]
Talkin’ bout a revolution
Friday, April 16th, 2010Check out this fascinating panel discussion about super injunctions and the laws of libel and privacy, hosted by the Frontline Club, involving successful defamation defendant Simon Singh, Carter-Ruck’s Nigel Tait, the Guardian’s investigations editor David Leigh, and media lawyer David Hooper. The debate comes amid British government proposals for libel reform (not enacted in time […]
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