New High Court search rules
Thursday, June 4th, 2009There are new rules about access to court documents (including exhibits), both criminal and civil. They are more detailed and to some extent more liberal than the old ones. They open up a range of documents subject to the overriding power of a judge to seal them. Some documents, however, can only be searched with the leave […]
The case against defamation
Thursday, June 4th, 2009Nicky Hager explains how he thinks hardball Aussie political consultant Lynton Crosby (of Crosby Textor fame) used defamation laws try to bully him for criticisms he made during a radio interview. You’ll remember that Nicky’s book The Hollow Men contained some pretty ugly revelations about the advice Crosby Textor gave to the National Party at the […]
Northern Exposé
Sunday, May 31st, 2009From the third season of Northern Exposure: Maurice Minnifield (local magnate and Cicely’s newspaper proprietor): You give ’em what they want. That’s the role of journalism. Joel Fleishman: No, Maurice, that’s the role of professional wrestling.
Pannick time!
Friday, May 29th, 2009David Pannick QC agrees with me (though there may be some chance that he does not read this blog and reached his conclusion independently) that the rules about interviewing jurors are too harsh.
Queer censorship rules
Friday, May 29th, 2009Noticed that you can’t find Queer as Folk at your local video shop? Actually, you can’t find any of these titles either. As Andrew Armitage explains, it’s because it’s too expensive to get them classified. Even if they’ve been on TV. Even if you could order them through Amazon.com. Even if they’ve been in the […]
Your booze leader
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009The Guardian is reporting that media workers are the biggest lushs in England.
Media law tsunami in Canada
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009A wave of important media law cases is hitting the Canadian Supreme Court. One’s on qualified privilege and I’ve discussed it here. The others include cases on confidential sources and bail hearing publication bans. I’m inclined to think that the guidance on free speech issues from the Canadian SC tends to be the most thoughtful, […]
Veitch material un-juncted
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009Not surprisingly, it seems that Tony Veitch has withdrawn his injunction proceedings. That still leaves interesting questions about the police’s unusual willingness to release so much information here.
Veitch injunction
Thursday, May 21st, 2009Who would have guessed it? (Not me). The injunction barring the media from publishing the information released by the police under the Official Information Act, seems to be based on breach of confidence. The Veitch team (headed up by heavyweight litigator Jack Hodder SC) argued that Veitch was not consulted on the release; he had […]
Nouveau niche
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009Those interviewed in Ruth Laugesen’s Listener feature about the future of mainstream journalism in New Zealand were bullish. But between the lines, I think three extracts tell a striking story about the journalism we can expect in another decade: [Martin Simons, APN group publishing chief executive]: “Margins are still very healthy. Perhaps in years to […]
« Previous Entries Next Entries »