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« Previous Entries Next Entries »How the Clean Slate Act applies to the media
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008The Clean Slate Act effectively expunges people’s old, minor criminal offences. But does that mean the media can’t publish them? Reading the Act as a whole, it looks like it doesn’t. Yes, it’s an offence for a journalist to ask someone to disregard the Act, which allows people to lie about particular convictions if they […]
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 […]
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, […]
Soapbox: internet company ISPed off
Thursday, April 24th, 2008Don Price, head of the Hawkes Bay internet company Wasp, wrote in to argue that ISPs are grown-up enough to develop their own industry standards: I find it very interesting that once again we (the internet business community) through the new Copyright Act will have the unenviable privilege of the legal fraternity with their intellectual might […]
Canadian Supreme Court to decide on new defamation defence
Thursday, April 10th, 2008Leave has been granted for the Canadian Supreme Court to rule on whether Canada will recognise a public interest/responsible journalism defence along the lines of Reynolds in the UK (and related to the Lange cases in NZ and Australia). I discussed the Canadian Court of Appeal decision here. The Canadian decision is likely to be […]
BSA round-up
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008When showing graphic footage (such as autopsy photos) on the news, the broadcaster should use a warning, and put the graphic footage far enough into the news item to give parents a chance to turn off the TV. When running a story about a campaign against child abuse, showing some photos of the beaten body […]
Headline: Police do good job
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008You don’t see that headline too often. This is a bit off-topic, but I had an experience of an emergency 111 call-out over Easter. It turned out to be a false alarm, but police were there within five minutes (a second car arrived a couple of minutes later). They were thoroughly professional. Well done, them. […]
Helpful access-to-court-records case
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008This judgment from Harrison J is a useful addition to journalists’ armoury in their ongoing battle for access to court files. The Sunday News wanted to see the file on Matthew Ridge’s leaky home litigation. The Registrar refused, saying that the paper needed to show “an interest [in the case] greater than that of the public at […]
Just click the link
Thursday, March 20th, 2008Do it now. It takes a minute or so. The lesson might last a lifetime. And I think it has something to say about the media, too.
Highlights from Press Council forum
Sunday, March 16th, 2008Top 10 most interesting points from Thursday’s public forum, “The Press and the Right to Know Under Siege”, where the speakers were Law Commissioner John Burrows QC and the chairs of the Australian and NZ Press Councils, Professor Ken McKinnon and Barry Paterson QC: Barry Paterson, a retired High Court judge, “hated TV in the […]
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