Chatham House Rule
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008There is only one Chatham House Rule, and this is it: When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. Note that it allows quoting, […]
Free speech log
Monday, May 12th, 2008Some upcoming free speech cases: Electoral Finance Act judicial review: strike-out application to be heard on 15 May. Applicants John Boscawen, Garth McVicar, Rodney Hide, and Graham Stairmand now want the court to rule that the Attorney-General should have advised Parliament that the Electoral Finance Bill was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act, and […]
Okay, have at me
Sunday, May 11th, 2008This blog is mostly about free speech. It should be becoming clear that my philosophy is that freedom of expression is extremely important and that any limits on it should be carefully defined and properly justified. That philosophy tracks closely with the framework of the Bill of Rights Act, which is relevant to almost all […]
Get over it!
Sunday, May 11th, 2008Some people think flag-burning is offensive. Fine. Some argue that it’s not speech. Not so fine. One of them, somewhat extraordinarily, is Stephen Franks: The effect of flag-burning derives solely from its power to shock and offend. It is not speech; it is not expression. It is the suppression and destruction of others’ expression. As […]
JK Rowling and the Chamber of Secrets
Sunday, May 11th, 2008Actually, it’s not a chamber that she’s looking to keep secret. It’s a photograph on the open street. She’s sued over the publication of some paparazzi photos of her and her husband on a street pushing a baby buggy containing David, their 19-month old baby. And the UK Court of Appeal has just ruled that they […]
Judicial smack-down on cameras in courts
Thursday, May 8th, 2008Memo from Justice Fogarty to almost every other judge in the country: You are breaking the law. You are riding roughshod over the presumption of innocence. You are punishing defendants before they have been convicted. You are shirking your duty to ensure that witnesses are not inhibited by cameras in court. You are not doing […]
A victory for the Berrymans?
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008You will have heard that Justice Mallon has granted judicial review of the coroner’s ruling in the Berryman’s bridge collapse case. Here are some things you might think you know about the Berryman case from the media coverage: The Berrymans “won” the case The decision said the bridge collapse was “not their fault” The Berrymans […]
We’re free. Really.
Thursday, May 1st, 2008The latest world press freedom rankings are out. As usual, we’re in the top 10, where we’ve been for at least the past five years (this year, we’re 9th equal, actually). Those who like to rhapsodise about the US First Amendment and American press freedom might like to ponder that country’s rankings for the past […]
A politician’s guide to ducking awkward questions
Thursday, May 1st, 2008This week’s lively Media7 show about the art of interviewing reminded me of a programme I put together for Radio NZ some years back. It’s a spoof instructional cassette for politicians on how to duck questions. All the clips are from real interviews. Here’s the script. HOW TO DUCK AWKWARD QUESTIONS: A GUIDE FOR POLITICIANS […]
NZ Censor Doesn’t Stymie Grand Theft Auto Plot
Monday, April 28th, 2008You could be forgiven for getting the opposite impression from the NZ Herald’s headline: Censor Stymies Grand Theft Auto Plot It rather suggests that our censor has carved out chunks of the latest version of the wildly popular – and wildly violent – video game Grand Theft Auto. Nope. If you read the story carefully, […]
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