Ahhhhh.... the good old days. If only everything in law was as simple as just sitting on the naughty step...
One important thing to remember as a journalist, is that you have the same legal rights as those of a normal citizen. Therefore, you are not above the law and have to watch what you say, do and publish or someone will try and sue you!
I am going to start with the basics of law and then slowly move on to the harder topics like defamation which journalists and many newspaper and magazine publications have been famously guilty for. I will try and not go too much into detail on any of the topics or issues as I do not want any of you to fall asleep at your computer!!
These are just the basics so if you want to know more, then buy a book or take a course.
Let's get this party started!
The media are meant to act on behalf of the public ( Spycatcher case) and so are not meant to harm the public through what they say, do or publish. However, the Media have not special status and their right to know and to publish are equal to those rights of the public. So the media can be punished for the same reasons that a citizen might be punished.
One of the roles of the journalists that are becoming popular are reporting in courts and so I shall also focus on this from time to time.
A journalist is allowed to enjoy certain privileges that allow him to do his job such as having a press bench in courts for journalists to use when reporting the courts. However it is important to understand that these privileges are not rights and so if the journalist does some that he is not supposed to do, he is fully responsible for his wrong actions and must be punished by law. More details of what journalists are not supposed to do will follow.
Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 introduced freedom of expression in UK law which gave journalists the right to comment on issues but also the right to provide information and news to the public. But even freedom of speech can contain restrictions such as libel which will be explored later on. Sometimes journalists are told to postpone the reporting of a criminal trial by judges especially when it deals with the public interest ( Contempt of Court Act 1981). There are ways again where journalists can challenge these restrictions which again will be explored in more detail, I promise!
Previously, the press used to be bound by censorship which prevents a story going into a paper but this has started to lose its validity ( Cream Holdings Ltd v Banerjee {2004} UKHL 44). Nowadays, freedom of speech has ways of being protected.
Sources of law are made up of custom (common law developed through the ages by royal judges), precedent( specific points of law from decisions of previous cases), equity (rules based on fairness), statutory instruments (Acts of parliament), European Community Regulations and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Two main divisions of law are criminal( deals with offences harmful to the state) and civil (rights against individuals and private parties) law. If reporting on cases, journalists need to be very aware of the different wording used in both the type of cases. For example, in a criminal court, a person is 'found guilty' but in a civil court they are 'found liable' for their crime.
So, that's all for today folks and I will leave you with some media goss, as promised:-
1. Lee Evans and ex- eastenders star Michelle Ryan, will be appearing in Dr. Who.
2. Kate Winslet is the bookies favourite for winning an oscar for the role in 'The Reader'
3. Police in the Bahamas have detained two people due to an alleged plot to gain money illegally from actor John Travolta after the death of his son.
Keep the comments coming on the articles. I will be writing more features on this soon so if you think this should be shorter then please say so!
Till the next time we meet...
Fabuluso xx
No comments:
Post a Comment