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Archive for November, 2008

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Right!

Monday, November 24th, 2008

And here’s a political ad complaint I think the Advertising Standards Complaint Board got right. Again, it’s against ACT. This time, it’s against ACT’s claim that: “Safe” New Zealand is now almost three times more violent than the US As usual, the ASCB invited ACT to substantiate its claim. It seems from the decision that […]

Wrong again

Monday, November 24th, 2008

I think the Advertising Standards Complaints Board has screwed up again, this time upholding a complaint about ACT’s political advertising. Norightturn made this point first. The ads claimed that ACT was the only party opposed to the Emissions Trading Scheme. The Family Party complained that this was incorrect: it was opposed to the ETS, too. […]

Siemer strikes out again

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

The Supreme Court has refused leave to Vincent Siemer over a range of complaints he had with procedural rulings in the defamation case brought against him by Michael Stiassny. As part of the decision, the court ruled that Stiassny’s reference to Court of Appeal judge Grant Hammond as “our old mate” was not evidence of […]

British Parliamentary inquiry into press standards following string of defamation cases

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

A British Parliamentary committee is to conduct an inquiry into British press standards, and will be asking whether the self-regulatory system needs toughening up.  It has been sparked by the media’s coverage (resulting in several successful defamation claims for their false accusations) of the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal last year.

Daily Mail editor strikes blow for the public right to know celebrities’ sexual habits

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

In a speech to the Society of Editors conference, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre called Justice David Eady “amoral and arrogant” and panned his pro-privacy decisions. He argued that Justice Eady was stopping the press from exposing the immoral conduct of public figures. He said this like it was a bad thing. The sort of […]

Page views, not site-hits, needed for defamation claim

Monday, November 10th, 2008

Want to sue someone for defamation for something posted online? You’ll need better evidence than the number of people who visited the website, according to the British High Court. The courts won’t assume that visitors to the website will have hunted out the material you’re suing about (unless it’s high up on the home page, […]

Wrong

Friday, November 7th, 2008

The Advertising Standards Complaints Appeal Board has upheld the decision against Labour’s YouTube ad – the one that criticised National’s plan to cut Kiwisaver in half. (The appeal board’s decision is below the complaints board’s one, so you’ll have to scroll down). How bad is the decision? Let me count the ways. First, it decided […]

So that’s all right then

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

The Daily Mail has just joined the Sun and the Daily Star in apologising to (and paying defamation damages to) Italian footballer Marco Materazzi for falsely accusing him of racially abusing Zinedine Zidane, triggering the famous headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final. The paper reported that he called Zidane “the son of a terrorist whore”. […]

NSW moves to stop judgments prejudicing trials

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

New South Wales is taking steps to take judgments offline where they might affect a jury because they contain prejudicial details. One of the parties has to make an application though. (Hat tip: Ursula Cheer).

CA to rule on right to jury in contempt cases

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

The Bill of Rights Act says we have the right to a trial by jury if the penalty for an offence exceeds 3 months jail. The maximum penalty for contempt is indefinite imprisonment. Recently, Vince Siemer was sentenced to 6 months in jail. He asked for a jury trial. It was denied. Why? The Courts […]

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