Labour’s YouTube Boob
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Did John Key say National would cut KiwiSaver in half? That’s what Labour said in their “John and John” ad. The ad was broadcast on TV and posted on YouTube. One S Davies-Colley thought was misleading, and complained about it. Under NZ’s increasingly creaky media law edifice, complaints about TV and radio election ads go to the Broadcasting Standards […]
Staying power?
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008I’ve said that the failure of the Fairfax contempt prosecution is a blow for the arms charge defendants’ chances of getting a stay of prosecution due to prejudicial publicity. If the case had succeeded, it would have been difficult for the presecutors and the courts to proceed with prosecutions. After all, two High Court judges […]
In case you missed it…
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Here’s an op-ed piece I wrote for the DomPost. Full credit to the boys (rugby was the winner on the day) for publishing it, because it’s not entirely flattering. Before that, they commissioned an independent and thoughtful piece from Karl du Fresne. The paper’s trial coverage was also fair and balanced. Credit to Tim Pankhurst […]
Blow me down
Friday, October 10th, 2008I confess, I thought Fairfax and Tim Pankhurst were goners. But they have survived the contempt application for their “Terrorism Files” story mostly unscathed. I say “mostly” because the judges found that they should have been prosecuted for breaching suppression orders and the Crimes Act provision outlawing disclosure of intercepted communications. “We are at a loss to […]
Interesting UK defamation trends
Friday, October 10th, 2008UK research into defamation reveals another hike in lawsuits from celebrities (32% of claims), and an increasing readiness by media organisations to settle (61% of cases result in a statement in open court). Results from 2007 had tracked an increase in claims from people accused of terrorism, and claims against posts on blogs and message […]
Libel by song
Thursday, October 9th, 2008A British magazine that quoted a song whose lyrics suggested that a politician was involved in an assault has settled a defamation lawsuit for a five-figure sum.
A case to keep an eye on
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008Max Mosley, who successfully sued for invasion of privacy over the disgraceful “Nazi sex orgy” hidden camera sting, is taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights with an interesting argument: the law should require the media to give advance notice to the subjects of their revelations before publishing them. That would give […]
A different way to tackle the juror-internet problem
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008Fine the jurors. Under new laws in Victoria, jurors can now be fined up to A$13,000 for conducting online research during a trial.
Eat the worm
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008There’s talk that TV3 might use the worm again for its leaders’ debate. In an attempt to persuade them not to, let me revisit a column I wrote before the last election: I see the worm is back. No, I’m not talking about John O’Neill. I mean the squiggly electronic line that measures audience reaction […]
TV3 next in the dock…?
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008It’s an innocuous-sounding phrase, but it should be emblazoned on the memory of every court reporter: “identity is at issue”. That means that the defence will be arguing that “it wasn’t me, it was someone else”. (This can be contrasted with a defence such as, “it was me, but it wasn’t a crime, or it […]
« Previous Entries Next Entries »