Picking up the Bill II
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008So now John Key is accusing Labour of being behind the “bugging” of conversations at the cocktail party. He suggested on Morning Report this morning that the repeated questions put to Bill English about Kiwibank sounded like someone was trying to set him up. (Key is also throwing in the suggestion that Labour was behind Nicky […]
Picking up the Bill
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008Did whoever surreptitiously recorded Bill English break the law? What about the media who published the conversation or its contents? It’s a crime to tape a conversation between other people if the circumstances indicate that one of the conversers wants it to be private (section 216B of the Crimes Act). I have no idea how […]
Target under fire
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008A few years ago, I did a report for RNZ’s MediaWatch programme, raising questions about whether the hidden camera stings in TV3’s Target programme were complying with broadcasting standards and the law of trespass. Over the years, Target has survived a string of broadcasting standards complaints. The producers deserve some credit. They always take care to try to […]
The media’s revenge
Monday, July 28th, 2008A MailOnline profile on Justice Eady: “As cold as a frozen haddock, Mr Justice Eady hands down his views shorn of moral balance”. Mean. News of the World strikes back, too.
Okay, so does Mosley affect NZ law?
Monday, July 28th, 2008Quite a bit, potentially. Remember, there was no claim in defamation (Mosley now says he’ll bring a separate lawsuit for that). And Mosley had failed in his injunction bid because the cat was out of the bag – the pictures were in the public domain. Remember, too, that the framework of the law in the […]
Highlights from Mosley v News Group Newspapers
Sunday, July 27th, 2008This is the privacy case against News of the World for publishing hidden camera photos and video clips of Formula One boss Max Mosley’s B & D session with five women. The paper alleged (wrongly, the judge found) that the sessions involved Nazi role-playing that effectively mocked the suffering of the Jews in the death […]
Jesus, this law sucks
Sunday, July 27th, 2008A belated note: the UK has abolished the offence of blasphemy. It was a stupid offence for any number of reasons, not least of which is that it only applies to insulting Christianity. I’m with Norightturn, who reckons it’s time to follow suit in NZ. Blasphemous libel is still in the Crimes Act. There has […]
A burning issue
Friday, July 25th, 2008I’m afraid my tirade about the ridiculousness of Valerie Morse’s conviction for burning a flag didn’t do any good. She lost her appeal to the High Court. Morse burned a flag at last year’s Anzac Day dawn parade at the Cenotaph in Wellington. She was gathered with other protestors in the university grounds over the road. She burned […]
Well, der.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008What was Radio NZ thinking? It tried to appeal against a BSA decision that had RNZ dead to rights. RNZ didn’t even argue in the High Court that it got its facts right – just that the BSA shouldn’t have ordered it to broadcast a correction. RNZ tried to argue that events had moved on, and that the correction would be […]
Fair enough?
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008In Which Steven Writes Another Overly Long Post About A Controversial But Potentially Significant BSA Appeal, And Starts Off Disagreeing With The Judge, But Winds Up Coming Close To Changing His Mind, Perhaps Because She Cites His Article. Justice Mallon has overturned a Broadcasting Standards Authority decision that found a Close Up programme unfair (search for “Heather Green” here). I discussed the original decision here. To […]
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