Law Recap Lecture Five:

Freedom of Information:

Handling information

-    Data protection - information kept safes and private and only used for the purpose in which they requested the information. Eg. Companies with your address. It would not be given out to members of the public. A barrier of information. You can only request data protection documents of yourself.

-    Official Secrets Act - detailed plans and sensitive information. Usually crucial to the defence of this country.

-    Confidentiality - agreement between two people. Medical researchers want to analyse peoples records to see if they can cure diseases by analysing large groups. But this info is confidential. People don't want their records known but this could happen if people become anonymous.

Most law is about limited information - FoI has a purpose of releasing information. Why? So that the government aren't accountable which makes them appear legitimate. We can find information.

-   FoI was enforce in 2005. Civil servants hate it.

-    Any citizen can out in a request for information from a public bodies.

-    Only 12% of journalist make foi requests.

-    Tony Blair, in the new labour manifesto gave points in favour because of the public interest. But then regretted that decision because over his time in parliament information which put his decisions and policy in a bad light was available. Not just the problems the last government made!   

The basic principle of FoI - any person can make a request for information. It may not be excepted if there is a valid reason. A request can be made through an email, it's free.

They say no because it's too expensive! If it costs more than £600 they can refuse.

- Or if it's exempt - Absolute exemption (security service or court records) or Qualified exemption (commercial confidentiality)

-    information is covered by a qualified exemption you should still be given it in the balance of the public interest favours disclosure.

-    Public interest - in the public interest, not merely interesting tone public.

-    Defined by common law.

-    Qualified exemption has 23 possible exemptions.

How long does it take? 20 working days. They must respond promptly. Or 40 days if they need to decide if it's in the public interest.

If they say no:

Internal review.

Information commissioner

Information tribunal

High court

Example - expenses scandal heather Brooke's.

The government is considering adding more limts to the FOI act:

Government wants to limit groups it individuals making too many requests there they become to burdensome.

Lower limits on costs, leading to more requests being refuse.

Include other factors - such as time taken to release the info or not - into the cost calculations.

Press organisations and freedom of speech campaigners have been very critical of the plans. Attack on journalists!! 

Law Recap Lecture Four:

Media Law - Copyright:

-    Copyright protects intellectual property. Creative content.

-    When  quoting other peoples material they must be attributed. Under certain circumstance we can use that material.

-    Clean up of copyright - their might be a parody clause in new law.

-    Intellectual property operation - IPO

-    Fair dealing - get out if jail card- allows use of material within guidelines.

-    Photographs cannot be used under fair dealing. A photographs copyright relies on consent.

-    If copyright mistakes are made, like other legal ones you won't be trusted in an organisation. Competence.

-    What's not protected? Slogans, undeveloped ideas, catchphrase. Dan brown copy right - holy grail.

-    Getting wrong will cost you money!

-    Fair dealing - for the purpose of reporting if current events we can lift the thrust of stories/quotes from rivals. Must be attributed. In hour public interest. Usage must be fair.

-    Fair dealing allows wider reporting of stories in public interest. Criticisms and reviews of material. Broadcast news obits of film stars can use their movie clips

-    Danger areas - the internet YouTube, Facebook etc. Sports coverage - news access rights. Photographs and film archive.

-    Recognise copyright issues early. Contacting right holders takes time. Tell others if you have copyright cleared. Don't life material without reference up!

IPO modernising copyright document - useful to understand copyright

Law Recap Lecture Three:

Media Law - Defamation and Libel:

Current examples of libel/defamation:

-    Phone hacking got rid of the risk of defamation and libel law suits because there was a recorded defence - a lawyer wouldn't have a prosecution case because it's true.

-    Lord Alpine implicated in the child abuse scandal among the BBC. BBC news night didn't name him but implied his involvement (jigsaw identification) and came out because of its presence on social media. He took out a libel case and the case was settled but he recently died.

What is defamation? What you write or broadcast about someone or a company 'tends to' lower them in estimation of right thinking people, causes them to be shunned or avoided, disparaged them in their business, trade or profession or exposes them the hatred, ridicule or contempt.

Defamation via pictures:

A common danger in TV, a careless use of background shots with voice over can be defamatory - juxtaposition.

People or companies must not be identifiable in certain contexts - child abuse, fraud etc.

Reputation and meaning - reputation is precious, especially if you have a public life, have money or both. Inference is a hazard. Sometimes we cannot see it if we've written it. If you think it could be misinterpreted give it to someone else to read. Innuendo is a hazard also. Asses the whole context of the story.

Libel cases are civil cases but have a jury and so they are costly.

Summary -

Classic definition of Libel - Publication + Defamation + Identification = Libel.

Libel defences:

-    A statement must cause serious harm - " harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit is not "serious harm" unless it has caused or is likely to cause the body serious financial harm."

 (Mclibel - under this new law the Mclibel case probably would never have gone to court because handing out leaflets is not going to have serious harm on a multinational company - no social networking existed then so it was only the leaflets have the effect.)

-    Honest opinion (fair comment) must show it as an opinion which could be held by an honest person, based upon a known fact at the time of writing. Malice will undermine this defence - must appear disinterested.

-    Public interest - if the the statement complained of was, or formed part of a statement on matter of public interest; and the defendant reasonably believed that publishing the statement complained of was in the public interest (Renalds case).

-    Web publication - it's a defence where for the operator to show that it was not the operator who posted it on the website.

-    Peer reviewed academic journals are privileged.

-    Absolute privilege - court reporting

-    Qualified privilege - police reports, presser.

-    Bane and antidote

-    Apologies and clarifications

www.legislation.gov.uk - Deformation Act 2013

You have no defence when you have not checked your facts, when you have not 'referred up' asked a senior editor, when you have not looked at what you're writing from a different point of you - Put yourself in their shoes, don't get carried away by a spicy story, not bothered to wait for a lawyers opinion.  

Law Lecture/reading eight: Freedom of information act

The freedom of information act 2000:
The freedom of information act gives individuals the power to require 'public authorities' to disclose information which wouldnt usually be published. The information requested must be supplied without charge, except if it costs the governmental department more than £600 or £450 for other authorities.
In the past, it had been requested that government disclose the attorney generals advice on the legality of the UK taking part in the invasion of Iraq. and an early draft of a controversial dosser published by the government to justify the invasion. 
The freedom of information act is a worldwide and helpful tool for journalists.

 Under the act, public authorities are considered to be:
- national government departments
- the house of commons, house of lords and NI/Welsh assemblies
- armed forces
- local government authorities
- national parks
- Universities, Colleges and schools
- NHS
- Advisory and regulatory bodies.

Some institutions and agencies are not covered by the act:
- UK's security and intelligence agencies are not requiired to respond to requests.
- courts and tribunals not covered, neither are housing associations, private prisons, charities, members of parliament and schools with academy status.

The FOI act works by responding to requests of information within 20 days, this can either be the information itself or explantions as to why the information cannot be given.
If information cannot given, it may be becuase
- that particular authority does not hold that information.
- it would exceed the costs limits for free information.
- its covered by exemptions under the act and doesn't need to be supplied.
The information that is held by an authority should be checked before making the request, this information is required to be shown in a 'publication scheme'

Public authorities are required by section 16 of the act to give those requesting the information advice and assistance. When someone is making a request, they should be told before the request what information of the type wanted, is available and should be given advice to avoid exceeding the cost limit for the information so they do not receive a charge.

Law lecture/reading seven: Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is seen as an off diary or set to no agenda, it can also be described as 'what someone doesnt want you to know (or publish).' Investigative journalism differs from every day news, in that every day news is a report of what has happened and interviews of those involved. Like everyday news, it comes with its own risks of committing malice and conflicts of interests. 
Investigative journalism can be used as a tool in the case of miscarriages of justice through organisations such as the innocence network united kingdom (INUK).

Photography, filming and videoing:
The press complaint commission code of practice has various clauses which protect aspects of personal privacy. It is not law, but breach of the clauses can have consequences.
Clause 3, privacy states:
i) everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence. editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individuals private life without consent.
ii) it is unacceptable to photograph individuals private life without their consent.

Clause 4, harassment states:
i) journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.
ii) they must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursing or photographing individuals once asked ot leave and not follow them.
iii) editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to use non compliant material from other sources.


Clause 6, children states:
i) young poeple should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.
ii) a child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child's welfare, unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.
iii) pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of authorities.
iv) minors must not be paid for material involving children's welfare, nor parents or guardian for material anout their children or ward, unless in the childs interest.
v) editors must not use fame or position of parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child's private life.

Harassment
the harassment act 1997 was implicated to tackle stalkers, but was only considered for use against the media because of the treatment of Kate Middleton by the paparazzi.
Trespass
forbids the unlawful physical entry to land or buildings. Civil courts can impose injunctions to prevent it further. There is no consideration of trespass when a picture is taken from property where the photograph has permission or right to be taken, eg. public highway joining private land. The concept of trespass can include trespass of the 'person' which might amount to compelling a person to be filmed by stopping him getting into his home or place or work. There is also trespass to goods, for example, picking up a document without permission and photographing it.
Aggravated trespass
Aggravated trespass is committed if he or she trespasses on loud, and in relation to any lawful activity which other people are engaged in on that or adjoining land, does anything to intended to the effect:
- of intimidation ant if them so as to deter them from engaging in that activity.
- of obstructing that activity
- or of disrupting that activity

Reporting elections:
False statements made about election candidates - under section 106 of the representation people act 1983 it is an offence to:
- make or publish false statement about the personal character or conduct of an election candidate, if the purpose of publishing the false statement is to affect how many votes he/she will get.

To constitute such an offense the falsity must be expressed as a fact, as distinct as possible from a statement which is comment or opinion about the candidate. As a defense, he or she must show they had reasonable grounds for believing it was true at the time of publication. It is also an offense under the act to:
- publish a false claim that an election candidate has withdrawn from the election. If the publisher knows this claim is false and published it for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of another candidate.

Defamtion dangers during elections - Qualified privilege protects fair and accurate reports of public meetings. When reporting extremist candidates, laws against the stirring up if hatred come into place.

Law lecture/reading six: copyright

Any work that is produced by an individual belongs to that person, unless it is sold/licensed to someone else to use. This can be in the form of physical property and intellectual property (ideas).
The idea of 'Fair dealing' allows us to use copyrighted material without paying for it, but rules apply as follows;
- the clips must be SHORT.
- the source must me CREDITIED.
- the AVAILABILITY of the content must be mentioned.

There is another tool which allows copyrighted content to be available without cost, this is called 'Creative commons' This lifts the copyright so anyone can use it but whoever created it can place conditions for use, eg, the creators name must be noted where the photograph is used. Photos under 'creative commons' are search able on websites such as 'Flickr', although using images from Google makes life easier, taking the extra time on Flickr could save you getting into trouble with the law. Or ultimately, to lose any risk, create your own photos and film footage instead of stealing others'.

What is protected by copyright?
Copyright is a branch of intellectual property law and products of peoples skill, creativity, labour or time. Under the designs and patents act 1988, copyright protects literary, dramatic, artistic or musical work, sound recording, film, broadcast or typographical arrangement. Artisic work includes photographs and graphics.

Copyright does not have to be registered, reproduction of a substantial part of copyright work may constitute infringement. But It can depend on the importance of the work copied and the quality. However for work to be protected by copyright it must satisfy the test if originality.

Material from contributors: copyright in material supplied to news papers by outside contirbutors, whether paid or not, will usually be owned by the contributor.
Results and listings: sporting or trade association may make material available for free, but it is still under copyright of the association and can be withdrawn whenever, make a charge or prevent another journal from copying it.
TV images: publication if television images without permission is an infringement under section 17 of the copyright act.

Copyright in speeches: there is copyright in spoken words,  even if they are not scripted, as soon as they are recorded, with or without permission. The speaker as the author of a literary work owns the copyright of their words, unless they are speaking in the course of his or her employment. under section 58, it is not infringement to use the record of the words for reporting current events, subject to four conditions:
- The record is a direct record and not taken from a previous record or broadcast.
- The speaker did not prohibit the making of the record and it did not infringe and existing copyright.
- The use being made of the record, or material taken from it, was not of a kind prohibited by the speaker or copyright owner before the record was made.
- The use being made of the record is with the authority of the person who is lawfully in possession of it.

It is possible that limited use of a speakers words might be covered by fair dealings. Surreptitious recording of speakers words is not a breach of copyright. Once words have been recorded they become copyrighted and owned by the speaker. In many cases there is copyright in the recording because of the skill involved in making it. Copyright in speakers words is not infringed parliament or judicial proceedings.

Crown Copyright:
work produced by civil servants is protected by crown copyright, which had been used in court to prevent publication of material and threaten former public servants with action for revealing matters concerning their employment.

Defense of fair dealing:
fair dealing with copyright work for repoting current events is not an infringement if it is acknowledged sufficiently and its author, provided the work has been made public.
Criticism and review: Copyright work will not be infringed id used for a purpose if criticism and review, even photographs, under fair dealing. So long as there is sufficient acknowledgment and to the work being made available to the public.

Remedies for breach of copyright: 
Civil action - owner of copyright can obtain an injunction in the high court or county court to retain a person from infringing his copyright, as well as seeking damages and an order for possession of infringing copies of the work and material used in the infringement. 

Law lecture/reading five: Confidentiality

Within in the concept of confidentiality  there are three main areas; state secrets, commercal secrets and privacy.
Privacy can be considered the new libel. Under section 58 of the human rights act, privacy is the right to the enjoyment of 'normal' family life. Therefore writing about someones private life is not permitted.
Confidentiality refers to secrets, which can then be split into two; state secrets - all under the official secrets act. The OSA prevents some forms of investigative journalism, publication of anything under this act can lead to prosecution.
Commercial secrets - people have the right to keep secrets, but not those that are considered to be against the public interest.  People the right to expect certain people to be confidential depends upon their relationship, a doctor would be required to not breach confidence.
Injunctions on peoples confidence can be put into place to stop publication of certain secrets which are thought to be THIRD PARTY breach of confidence (information given by a third party to a journalist) though this is also considered to be a crime. 

Someone who feels their confidence had been breached must show that they have been harmed, unlike defamtion where they must prove that they could be harmed. For something to be a true invasion of privacy, the information which is thought to breach confidence must have all of the following:

1. quality of confidence  AND…
2. circumstances AND…
3. no permission to reveal AND…
4. cause actual detriment.

Gagging clauses -  if a person is employed by another for wages  they owe the employer a common law “duty of confidence” - even if this is not specified in a contract, and even if there is no contract. So if any secret information is released, even unknowingly, action can be taken by the employer.

Law lecture/reading four: Qualified Privilage

For qualified privilege to come into play as a for of protection for journalists, there must be defamation/libel = defamation+publication+identification.  There are two types of qualified privilege: common law and statutory.

Common law qualified privilege on the idea of "the common convenience and welfare of society", that is, the public interest.

Statutory qualified privilege comes into use when reporting in court with a judge present. Everything can be mentioned, and it has to be made clear whether or not a defendant denies charges. Statutory qualified privilege must be published immediately, contain no errors or any indication of malice.

To highlight the extent of which a journalist would be covered by qualified privilege after defamation, Lord Nicholls gave the ten point test of reasonable journalism:

The ten point test:

1. The seriousness of the allegation – the more serious the allegation, the more protection will be applied. 

2. The nature of the information and the extent to which the subject matter is a matter of public concern.

3 . The source of the information. The more authoritative the source, the more you are entitled to report their allegations, even if those allegations can not be proved or even if they turn out to be incorrect.

4. The steps taken to verify the information.

5. The status of the information.

6. The urgency of the matter.

7. Whether comment was sought from the claimant .

8. Whether the article contained the gist of the claimant’s side of the story

9. The tone of the article.

10. The circumstances of the publication - must be fast, accurate and fair!

My morning at winchester crown court

After being turned away yesterday, I was preparing to be turned away again. But i was lucky enough to get my first experience in a court room (hopefully I only ever will experience a court room from the public gallery). Not 100% sure about what I'm allowed to say and how much detail I can go into but with reference to McNae's, heres my account just to make sure I'm not digging a hole to lie in.

On arrival to the court myself and Ellen had our bags searched and had to walk through a metal detector - lucky neither of us had anything we shouldn't have had. We then went to reception and asked the very nice lady from yesterday if there was anything we could sit in on, we were in luck and sent to court seven. We were quite early for the trail and so we had a little chat in the cafe, surrounded by people, a few who made me feel a little uncomfortable, though I did try to work out who were family members of defendants and witnesses based in quite lame stereotypes. One thing that did strike me was that there were two very young children there.
Once the defendants name was heard on the speaker we made our way to the court room, we waited for about ten minutes before entering and realised we'd missed a bit, but still the trail was very interesting.
There were some funny little funny things i think im allowed to comment on; the judge was smirking, silently laughing and rolling his eyes at the defenses' barrister when she made a point he thought to be ridiculous. Made me think he'd seen this kind of case wayy too many times.
The defendant was male, charged with possession of class A drugs. During the hour and a half we were there I was able to hear the statements and questioning of 4 witnesses, as well as the claimants barrister finding a further statement that wasn't previously know. The jury was dismissed so that cross examinations and arguments could be evaluated by the barristers on this statement, which ultimately gave the defense a push up on the point she was making.
After this, the barristers moved on and had witnesses for a different event, which I was a little confused about, seen as it wasn't anything the defendant had done, rather what someone had done to him. A little after this I left, it would have been nice to continue watching but the case had really only just started to I would assume its probably still going on now...

It was really good experience to sit in on a trial and would recommend it to anyone, journalism student or not. It allowed me to see the true workings of a court, quite different from what I've read in books and totally unrehearsed, unlike the TV drama I've seen, yet still there was the same kind of tension created and was incredibly engaging.

Law Lecture/reading three: defamation

Defamation is a term used to describe a civil dispute between two parties which carries negative effects on someones reputation and can even go as far as saying the reputation they had previous to the defamed statement has been taken away as opposed to slightly altered. A person to has the right to a reputation that they are entitled to, but not one which a person believes to have as it may not be true. For example, I may think I'm a hard worker, but a former employer may think otherwise, so therefore my actual reputation does not proceed the reputation I think I have.
A defamatory statement does not have to be proven to have any negative effect on a person, instead it is based on the balance of probability, in that the effects the statement could have on a person have to be identified.
Another form of defamtion, thought doesnt apply as directly to journalism as libel, is slander. Slander is simply deformation in a spoken, rather than published/written form which is described as libel.

Libel = identification+publication+defamation
- Identification: no one is libel unless identified. This can be avoided by identifying the person in as much detail as possible, this is known as positive identification. Though their are some cases of accidental libel when someone has been positively identified but there is someone else of the same description. In chris' words a spout of 'bad luck.'
- Publication: the permanent form in which the defamatory statement is included in, which is shown then to a third party.
- Defamation: defamation tends to be one of four things to a jury:
(1) Exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt
(2) Causes them to be shunned or avoided
(3) Discredits them in their trade, business or profession
(4) Generally lowers them in the eyes of right-thinking members of society

Though these come with defences in a law court, which are as follows:
- Justification: proof the statement is true, with evidence. This is why we're supposed to stick to the facts.
- Fair comment: that the comment is the true opinion of the journalist. But at times these comments can be considered malice, which is protected by band and antidote. Malice can be described as deliberately saying something which you do not believe to be true. Malice has no defenses.
- Absolute privilege and qualified privilege: privilege in a legal sense referrers to the exemption to certain persons from the law. Journalists have some privileges in that what is published is FAST, ACCURATE and FAIR.

Law lecture/reading two: Reporting the Courts.

This weeks reading/lecture outlines the legal principles, limitations of reporting in both crown court and magistrates courts in detail and highlights the importance of 'qualified privilege', contempt of court and the lawful meaning of 'prejudice.'

The basic legal principles include the presumption of innocence, justice must be seen to be done and evidence based on justice.
Presumption of innocence outlines the concept of 'innocent until proven guilty' beyond reasonable doubt (Mens Rea; the guilty act must be proven and Actus Reas; the guilty mind, was it intentional). Though the concept changes slightly for magistrates court which stands as balance of probability, rather than presumption of innocence.
Justice must be seen to be done highlight the concept that a trail must take place in public (hence public galleries in courthouses) thought, in certain circumstances this is retracted and the trial is held privately if it threatens the welfare of witnesses or may cause prejudice.
Evidence bases on justice simply out lines the right to a jury trail.

Qualified privilege allows certain persons, ie journalists, to report information which may be seen to be libel if published by other people (so long as it is accurate, fast and fair), though this is restricted in the contempt of court act which highlights what can be published while a case is active this includes:

• Name & age
• Address & occupation
• Charge(s)
• Date & place of Crown Court hearing
• Bail & legal aid conditions
• Names of counsel

Cases cease to be active in magistrates courts if there is nothing to suggest it will be take to crown court. In a crown court, cases are active until conviction or until acquittal, but then only what has been presented in court can be published. The contempt of court act is to protect the concept of 'presumption of innocence' and enables a fair outlook from the jury, if the jury are swayed by media publications. If this happens it is considered prejudice which suggests the defendant will be judged before evidence is presented.

Chapter one/lecture one: An Introduction to Law

Todays law lecture was pretty interesting, from the set reading and having been a politics A-Level student bits were already known to me but one thing I learned and found quite interesting was that the press is described as the 'fourth estate' which scrutinizes the activity of the branches of government (executive, legislature and judiciary). Its a nice point to back up arguments on the existence of external restraints, as well as strong checks and balances in the public eye, on the government as there is very little separation of powers between the three branches (despite the concept of the three chambers separating power to control corruption).

The introduction to law (chapter one) highlights the importance of the concept of freedom of expression in a democratic society (thought it can be argued that the limitations of the human rights act and the laws of the European Convention make freedom of expression unachievable and a highly desirable reality). The UK's constitution is of an unwritten nature, and so the human rights act was introduced to safeguard the rights of the individual so that one can benefit form freedom of expression, rather than use it to discriminate against of harm others.  In the absence of a written constitution, two constitutional bulwarks have been relied on to allow freedom of expression: jury trail and the rule against prior restraint. There are two important articles in the law which are used as a balancing tool to give people, particularly journalists, the right to freedom of expression and also the right to privacy.

This chapter also highlights divisions in the law, first being criminal law; offenses which appear to cause harm to the whole of a community or and act against the sovereign, and second civil law; organises financial matters and entitlements, as well as disputes between people, eg. divorce settlement. Both types of law can overlap.