Law Revision.

Court Structure

The court structure is set out like a pyramid with the Supreme Court being the highest court there is. This court has 12 Justices and is located in Central London, Parliament Square. Below the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal which is split into two divisions, civil division and the criminal division. From the civil division is the High Court which is sectioned into three parts: the Queens Bench, Family and Chancery which includes business cases. Below the High Court is the County Court which deals with minor offences such as building contractors and suing people who have breached a contract. Both the High Court and the County Court are civil courts that have judges present. They are headed by the DPP (director public prosecution) who currently is Alison Saunders. Another organisation is the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) which decides the sentences in the magistrates court. These include:

• Up to six months in prison
• Community Service
• A fine up to £5,000

The magistrates court does not have a jury present and usually deals with things such as family issues and contractual land etc. The functions of the magistrates court is to:

1. Find liable or not liable in family court and youth court
2. Decide the damages a fine, jail etc through the licensing apparatus
3. Deal with disputes between couples and marriages etc

On the other side of the court structure there is the criminal division which is the Crown Court. This is where all of the indictable cases are which consist of the State Vs the Person. The functions of the Crown Court is:

1. Appeals passed on from the Magistrates Court
2. Sentencing
3. Hear indictable cases

Sources of the law include:

• Common Law
• European Law
• Statue Law (parliament)
• Judicial (case law)

Chris Grayling is currently the Minister of Justice and oversees the administration of the court system. Dominic Grieve is the Attorney General and oversees the government decisions such as the Iraq War.

The Public Interest is when information published provides a 'sufficient benefit' for society to know about and puts them at a fair advantage for knowing such things. This could include a bird flu break out in an area that could upset the locals due to stopping people from visiting their village however can put them at an advantage so they can prepare for it or try and prevent themselves from catching it.

Criminal standard of proof is based on the balance of probabilities- beyond reasonable doubt

whereas Civil law standard of proof is based on the balance of probabilities and is lower than the criminal side.

Reporting Crime and the Court

Prejudice is publication of information which will prevent the accused person from having a fair trial due to the potential jury knowing information before the trial. 

Contempt is information that is published in breach of the court reporting rules and carries a high risk of prejudicing the legal proceedings. 

The stages of reporting a crime are as follows:

1. The crime is reported and the police hunt begins, appeal for witnesses and issue a description.
2. Police make an arrest and issue a warrant or state that 'someone is helping with their inquiries', the case is now legally active and there is a risk of prejudice.
3. The police lay the charges and a trial could be the case so you should only report facts that you know to be true. 'Community colour' is usually a good thing to fill your package with at this stage such as how the community have coped and their actions of laying flowers etc.
4. The court case is here and there are only seven points which can be reported these are:

• The name, age, address and occupation of the defendant
• The charges they face
• The name of the court and the magistrate
• The name of the barristers and solicitors present
• The date and place to where the case is adjourned 
• If they were granted bail
• If they received any legal aid

The case becomes 'legally active' once someone is charged or an arrest is made.

There are three types of offences, these are: Indictable offences (the Crown Court cases such as murder), either way offences (can go to either Magistrates or Crown Court such a robbery and drug offences and summary cases (the Magistrates Court cases such as family issues).

A conditional discharge is where the court does not impose a specific punishment but gives a time period that if the person re-offends in they will be liable for both offences.

Section 39- gives anonymity to under 18s in adult courts and cannot be reported, for instance if they were a witness.

Section 49 gives anonymity to under 18s in youth courts.

Jigsaw Identification is where a combination of details are published which can destroy someones anonymity and lead the public to speculate it is a specific person. This can happen when many newspapers or broadcasters reveal certain information on a specific person but each company state different facts. The case that links to this is the McAlpine case where on BBC Newsnight he was not named however a report they gave set off a series of jigsaw identification on Twitter which lead to the viewers publicly identifying McAlpine.

When reporting in the Crown Courts you should not report anything that is said if the jury are not present in the room. You are covered in court by 'absolute privilege' as long as your report is, fair (balanced) accurate (the evidence you report is correct) and contemporaneous (you publish it at the first chance you get so that it is current).

Libel and Defamation

Libel results from publishing a defamatory statement which identifies a person or a specific company.

PUBLICATION+ IDENTIFICATION+ DEFAMATION= LIBEL

Published for the public to see, identifies the person or company, contains a defamatory statement.

To define defamation- it is a statement which a 'reasonable man or women' may think 'tends to':

1. Lower someone in the estimation of right thinking people
2. Cause someone to be shunned and avoided
3. Disparages someone in their work or profession
4. Exposes someone to hatred, ridicule or contempt

Picture libel is something that we need to be aware of especially when reporting out on the streets. Framing people or company logos in shots when talking about a paedophile or a negative story can link this company or person to it without you realising. It could contain inference (secondary meaning) or an innuendo (possibly defamatory).

The Defamation Act 2013 sets out some new rules in the libel defences.

1. People must prove that they have suffered 'serious harm' such as the losses serious e.g. losing a job or a lot of money because of it.
2. Truth- it must be the substantial truth
3. Honest opinion- it must be an honestly held opinion based on fact or facts that existed at the time, it no longer has to be in the public interest but must remain free of malice.

Publication on the matter of public interest must be 'reasonably believed' to be in the public interest and valuable for the public to know.

Qualified privilege gives journalists freedom to report what goes on in council meetings or in statements freely even if they are potential defamatory or untrue statements. It gives you legal protection from being sued as long as your accounts are fair, accurate and in the public interest without malice.

Qualified privilege without explanation or contradiction contain proceedings in the legislature anywhere in the world but must publish a letter or statement from the person defamed if requested.

Qualified privilege with explanation or contradiction does not need to publish this sort of material as it is covered by what was said in a public meeting.

Lee Clegg was a soldier that was jailed for killing two joy riders. However due to a campaign from The Daily Mail where 1.5 million readers signed a petition he was released as it was argued that he was simply doing his job. He was also allowed to return to the front line and fight again. 

Copyright

This is the exclusive legal right given to an organisation or person to print/ publish, film or record artistic or musical material. The purpose of copyright is to protect intellectual property of products and skill. Undeveloped ideas such as slogans or catchphrases are not protected.

You can use snippets of people's work through the use of 'fair dealing' if you comply with these rules:

1. Work cannot be passed off as your own therefore it needs to be accredited
2. Usage must be fair
3. Material must be in the public interest

Photographs and TV News pictures etc are not covered by fair dealing and it is important to remember that Internet material is also subject to copyright.

Confidentiality 

The law of confidence safeguards information obtained in confidential circumstances between individuals or a company and its employees. The three areas that are a concern to journalists are:

1. Revealing state or official secrets
2. Revealing commercial secrets
3. Revealing facts about someone that they would expect to remain in private such as NHS health records.

The Official Secrets Act protects state secrets (military or intelligence) and prevents people from publishing photos of sensitive military installations as it is a criminal offence to do so. However this act is rarely used.

Commercial confidentiality is protected by contract of employment laws such as not revealing finance information. At times these figures can be in the public interest and it is up to the journalist to decide on the risk of legal action if they publish something like this. Journalists must decide whether to risk an injunction by seeking a response to the allegation or publishing material and taking risk of legal action for breach of confidence or defamation. 

Important Cases

Max Mosley Vs The News of the World 2008, printed a story that Max Mosley had an orgy with five women and reported that it contained a Nazi them. The High Court ruled that there was no public interest in revealing activities and that Mosley had a right of privacy in which damages were rewarded.

Naomi Campbell Vs The Mirror is when they published photographs of her leaving a narcotics anonymous meeting and reported about her therapy for a drug addiction. The House of Lords ruled that there was a breach of confidence as she should expect privacy.

PCC, Ofcom, BBC Editorial Guidelines

These all decide what is justified for journalist behaviour. Ofcom rules that there should be an absolute requirement for accuracy and impartiality. The Ofcom code has statutory power and can impose large fines and even remove broadcast licenses. ITV were fined 5.6 million for abusing phone in votes for money on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

The PCC (press complaints commission) is now discredited as they did not do enough over the Leveson Enquiry situation. At present they are still regulating and making decisions on their website though. The BBC Editorial Guidelines is a system of regulation for people at the BBC to follow.

Reporting Elections

Accuracy and impartiality is important for reporting as the way you report can influence the public choice in voting. The danger areas for journalists are:

• False statements about candidates
• Maintaining impartiality
• Reporting on opinion and exit polls

To remain impartial you should assess your coverage each day and keep a log of the coverage for the parties to make sure they are all around the correct amount. Major and minor parties do not have to have equal coverage time. It is an offence to refer to exit polls (how real voting is going) until the polling closes as this could prevent people from voting if they think their party isn't doing too well. On polling day the coverage should remain minimal and there should be no reference to political issues or arguments.

Inquests

The function of inquests is to find the cause of death. This death could be due to: unlawful killing or an accidental death. 

They are conducted by the coroner who legally has to find the cause of death if it appears to be 'violent or unnatural'. There is a jury of 8-11 people with these cases and is covered by qualified privilege.

Reporting Elections

On May 22nd there are European Elections being held which makes this blog even more relevant.

The Representation of the of the People's Act 1983 states that it is a criminal offence to make or publish false statements about election candidates. The expected role of a journalist is to broadcast everything you can in regards to what is happening in the run up to the election day. The broadcasters rules are different to those of print where you can say 'vote for'… whereas this cannot be done in broadcasting due to Ofcom and the BBC guidelines that state this.

Impartiality is vital with broadcasting as stated in section 6 of the Ofcom broadcasting code. In news papers you are able to remain partial  as you are free to write editorials. When broadcasting you must give coverage to the major parties during the election evenly to prevent promoting a party more than the others. You must also give appropriate coverage to other parties and independent candidates.

There was a big case with an MP Phil Woolas in 2010 who lost his seat and banned from standing for parliament for three years. This was due to putting a false statement about the liberal candidate Robert Watkins in election leaflets stating that he was 'wooing extremist votes from the Muslim community'.

We have to be careful what we report/ say as a lot of the statements made by people will be defamatory statements which may be made from rival candidates. When it comes to the exit polls which is a survey where people are asked who they have voted for at the polling station which allows a prediction to be made on the election result ahead of the official declaration. There are restrictions on publishing this information and the predictions as it can persuade people to change their votes or to not vote at all if their party appears to not be doing so well.

Opinion polls can be bias and some can be unreliable as they all differ from one another. It is legal to publish them on voting intentions gathered before the voting begins as they are not based on how people have actually voted but on their intentions. Section 66a Representation of the Peoples Act 1989 states that it is an offence to publish before the poll is closed at 10pm any statements about how people have voted in the election and to publish before a poll is closed any forecast or estimate of the election result.

They use samples of people and a different age range and social economic standing in the polls which must include a context and clarify.

Journalists, TV crews and photographers etc do not have to be let into the count by the Returning Officer unless they are also a candidate.

Impartiality is an important aspect for journalists to consider when reporting for each party. A log of the party coverage should be kept to record the amount of sound bites each party receives to keep it fair. You need to define who the major parties are which has changed this year as UKIP are now seen as a major party in the European election even though it does not contain any MP's. Ofcom and the BBC need to make this decision whether to include UKIP as one of their major parties when reporting on the election.

In Press Gazette it appears that Ofcom have already ruled that they will treat UKIP as a major party but not in Scotland. They based this information on a variety of opinion polls over the past year or so. You should expect guidance when you are a journalist as to which parties are major and the ones that are minor but should still receive some coverage.


If you are going to do a show like the Daily Politics panel with around 3-4 people you should include a person to represent the top 3 parties and then you would need to choose a popular minor one to also be represented.

When covering elections there are safe seats which barely matter. Rowenna Davis did a marginal seat report on who is up or down in the voting system and constructed a profile on what is going on at the polling station. The news package report would have contained footage of all of the major parties which don't have to contain the exact amount of screen time. If there is a less popular party they do not have to have as long on screen as a popular party as long as they are covered this should be enough.

There is a such thing as tactical voting where you don't vote for a party if they are a lot further behind the others. People then vote for the opposition of the party that they don't want to win to try and prevent  them from gaining the overall majority of votes.

If you want to profile individual candidates and their campaign you should produce one for each day on the news as long as you make it clear to the viewers that you are doing everyone else too. This is the same for an interview on a radio show as you would have to give everyone a chance to speak.

It is important to make sure your reporting is impartial and accurate as citizens base their choices on your reporting. Politicians love to shoot the messenger when things go wrong- in other words this will be you as the reporter. Campaign language is often heated which must be remembered if you were to do a live broadcast.

On polling day itself there is minimal reporting at all and no exit poll speculation. It is a criminal offence to publish anything before the polls have closed. Politicians even remain quiet too on this day.

The Electoral Commission dictate how the elections are run and are like a watchdog and regulator of the party and election finance. They also deal with any complaints and provide an outline for what is fair/ reasonable to report for the broadcasters.

Regulation of the Press and Broadcast Systems

Ofcom (the office for communication) are the licensing authority that gives out licenses for people to be able to broadcast. Every broadcaster needs to have a license that entitles them to broadcast their channels. Ofcom are independent from the government. The PCC (press complaints commission) is currently still standing however is going to soon be abolished. They set out editorial guidelines for written publications to follow. On their website http://www.pcc.org.uk it still shows current disputes that they are working on so shows that they are still in use at this time.

In the news on the 5th March there was a debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage about whether to have an EU live debate on the TV. The way the press are managed is changing due to the phone hacking scandal which has put a focus on press ethics.

IPSO- independent press standards organisation was set up by the papers themselves. This may work in the future as a press regulator. The government wanted the Royal Charter statute regulation to be more prominent however the papers think that this contains too much state intervention for them to be able to run smoothly. This statute law has been passed however it still currently remains inactive.

The PCC remained silent throughout the phone hacking scandal and never had a word to say about what happened. They were supposed to stand up for the public however failed to do so. The newspapers are more of a self regulator as there has never been any real sanctions or fines on them for hacking etc.

Trust is a big driver of behaving properly as a journalist- if you treat people properly then they will talk to you and you will gain a good reputation. BBC Peter Fincham resigned after an investigation into his footage that misrepresented the Queen. 

There was also the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank scandal that aired live on TV on the BBC. The BBC were fined £150,000 by Ofcom and it ended Jonathan Ross's series on the BBC. Ofcom does regulate parts of the BBC if the BBC make a large editorial error as mentioned in the story above. There is also the NUJ code of conduct that regulates. The BBC have their own Royal Charter and agreement with parliament that is regulated by the BBC Trust and BBC governing body as well as their own editorial guidelines and the BBC complaints commission unit which is similar to those of Ofcom. 

The codes guide us through ethical issues and help us with how far we can go to get a story. One of these guidelines is to respect the privacy of the bereaved. The test is to decide whether the story is in the public interest. Undercover investigation and secret filming can be justified by public interest based on prima-facie evidence. 

The purpose of the law is specific and limited. The codes provide a benchmark for behaviour and reassure the audiences that they can build trust. Broadcasting is more intrusive as it contains moving image, sounds and can imitate experiences more vividly than photos or text.

The Ofcom code March 2013: states harm and offence- section 2- swearing on TV and the 9pm watershed where talks about sex, nudity, violence and death have to be regulated these before 9pm due to children watching. Suicide and self harm must not be shown unless justified editorially. 

Section 3 states that crime should not be glamorised and the details should be kept hidden as they could enable commission of crime and people could copy it. Section 7 discusses 'fairness' and to avoid unfair treatment to others/ organisations. 

The Lee Rigby footage that was shown at the time he was killed with a man holding a knife and blood all over his hands was in the public interest. They were incredible pictures with Lee lying on the floor behind him dead. However they were shown on the 6pm news but the editors made sure that a warning was played before the images were shown to warn its audience of what was about to be broadcast. They did show less of this story at 6pm than they did later on in the night due to the watershed regulation.

WINOL last week did a similar story where they had CCTV footage of a man being punched in the face which lead him to fall over. This was shocking footage as the man died in hospital later on in the evening. All broadcasters should not show the moment of death however they can show leading up to it as in this case.

You should also always consider the effect the material has on its viewers/ listeners if they come across your story unawares such as turning on the TV half way through a package. 

Door stepping is filming or recording (section 8) of an interview or an attempt to get an interview with someone being filmed/recorded for broadcast purposes without warning. The former editor of The Sun was libel for the Hillsborough incident. Alex Thomson from channel 4 shows an extreme example of door stepping when trying to get Kelvin MacKenzie to speak. Its defence was that it was in the public interest and and that he is well known, you cannot do this to someone from the general public.

Impartiality is not required for newspapers hence the likes of The Sun or The Daily Mail who are free to talk about immigrants and can be partial in their writing. However it is a requirement for broadcasters to remain impartial to topics. This also means that packages should remain absent from bias or preconception and consider the 'axis for debate' when you work out the lines of the debate for both sides of the argument.

Guidance is regularly updated on the BBC editorial guidelines so you must always make sure that you are up to date with any changes they may add. They are editorially justified and always fit for the audience. 

There is also something called 'product prominence' which is where you should avoid undue prominence when attributes appear on chat shows and similar programmes to promote a new film, book or product. Proper editorial discussion is acceptable however shows like Graham Norton are really pushing the boundaries for this category as he is always holding up Cd's and book releases on his show.

The main differences between broadcasting and newspapers is that broadcasters need to remain impartial whereas newspapers do not. The sanctions of Ofcom include: a direction not to repeat the programme, corrections or findings must be broadcast, impose fines 5% of revenue which for ITV is a lot of money and they can revoke the broadcast license.

The ITV were fined 5.68 million for the Ant and Dec phone service scandal where they seriously mislead the public phoning in to a live programme when they were not doing so. The BBC Attorney General refuses to let the public see letters to minsters however the Court of Appeal 12th March that we should be allowed to know what the people say.

Qualified Privilege

Qualified Privilege is based on the circumstances, place and setting of the information that you have received. There is a defence where if the facts are freely known in the public interest then they are useable. The 'Credit Suisse' story on the BBC was where they claimed that their reputation had been damaged. There was a defamatory statement used, however they were able to print this due to the source being named, 'US congregational committee' report. They were covered by qualified privilege through the act of the committee, government or legislature anywhere in the world being a source.

Your information should always be reported fairly, accurately and published without malice, and should be in the public interest. You are able to report what people say in meetings if they are held in public even if they are negative about something or someone. For example in a council meeting, you are not covered by qualified privilege if something you report is said after the meeting has ended. You can then rely on the principle of justification (prove it is true) but it can be harder to do this. When reporting under qualified privilege it is always best to make sure that your story is balanced (allow other sides response).

If something is said in a press conference or if you are handed a leaflet or something at a press conference it is protected under qualified privilege due to the new laws surrounding the act. If you report someone saying something defamatory and the person it is about wants you to report their response, contradiction or explanation you must do this or the privilege is lost. Absolute privilege covers courts and allows you to report on anything as long as it is fair, accurate and contemporaneous.

Part 1 talks about privilege without explanation/ contradiction and allows you to quote anything:

• Court
• Public meetings/ press conferences
• Government/authority published

Part 2 is where there is a requirement to publish explanation/ contradiction if asked to by the person defamed:

• Public meetings
• Local council/ committee
• Tribunals, Enquiry's
• General meetings or UK public companies
• Company documents

Authorities that provide day to day services to the public are not covered such as statements from the gas board, rail companies and the British Airport Authority. A press conference is a public meeting and can be reported on.

Pressers

Pressers are public meetings (Lords 2000) where written handouts are covered by the qualified privilege if they are given out. You should always consider the risks of live broadcasting and what may be accessible to the viewers. If there was a patients group campaigning against the NHS there would be risks to go there and broadcast live. This is because you will be unsure of what everyone will say and there will be a lot of 'wild allegations' around. When broadcasting things such as alleged wrongful convictions, misconduct by police or campaign groups you should be aware when broadcasting live as there is potential to be a lot of defamatory statements. 

There is no privilege outside main proceedings (setting) and reports must be, fair, accurate, without malice and in the public interest.

A recent story that shows this type of reporting is the murder of two women and the dogs that were shot dead. The man arrested had previous convictions for illegal dog breeding but the media at the time this information was found out were told not to broadcast this aspect due to contempt of court. This information was in the printed papers the next day however at the time the story broke out the lawyers for the likes of the BBC told them not to broadcast this information. The term 'lead and license' is when the claimant can sue you for libel but have given you consent to publishing something.

Inquests

These are usually conducted by coroners (court in Southampton). The legal procedure is to establish the cause of death if it appears 'violent or unnatural'. They do not rule on who may be responsible 'on the balance of evidence… verdict'. People give evidence on what has happened in the case. 

In exceptional cases: the deceased was in state detention, the death result of an action by the police, result of workplace accident, can have a jury if the death was more of a public concern such as someone dying in a police cell etc. The coroners rules state that they have to have a jury between 8 and 11 people. 

Types of verdict

Narrative verdict- increasingly common

Short form- natural cause 'accidental death' or drug dependant

Unlawful killing- or 'open verdict' is where they won't say the death was accidental

On the Daily Mail website there are a few inquest stories such as the 13 year old boy that committed suicide by hanging himself due to a a £420 bill on his parents credit card that he racked up via buying xbox games. The report cannot state much other than what it hears in the court. It talks about what the person did and why they did it and then just mentions a fact about another boy from the same school also committing suicide. This is because inquests make good stories however you cannot go into a lot of detail on the outcome as it is limited.

Media Rules

Inquest is a court proceeding protected by qualified privilege. It is also covered by contempt of court so there should be no publishing prejudicial material. The coroners can impose reporting restrictions such as if a child is giving evidence they may not want you to name them. You should also be aware of bereaved families in your coverage and not give all the details.

The coroners are also in charge of treasure and need to decide whether found objects of value are 'treasure' and if you are subject to a reward.

Copyright

Copyright protects intellectual property and people’s creativity. Fair dealing means that you can ‘lift’ quotes or use a snippet of someone’s exclusive interview (for example) as long as you do not use large amounts from it. We must attribute it if we use other people’s material. You should always identify the risk and realise when something is copyright and find out if you are able to use it.

There was a news story in December 2012 where Apple were fined by a China court for copyright violation. They ordered that Apple pay eight Chinese writers and two companies for violating their copyrights. They claimed that unlicensed electronic copies of their books had been sold on Apple's online store. 

An example of this is the ‘Newport’ video on YouTube that uses the theme tune to Jay Z’s well known song ‘New York’. However, they did make up their own words for the video but it followed a similar scenario to the singers version. Jay Z’s record company actually managed to get the video forced off YouTube which resulted in them gaining a lot of publicity in the papers. This was probably due to the video being so popular and gaining so many hits. At the moment, copyright is being cleaned up and a new clause will state that parody is allowed meaning the video can go back online.

This week we had the news that Shirley Temple died. Of course this was all over the news as she was a very famous actress. The BBC produced a package that contained footage of when Shirley first started out as a young girl. This is allowed under ‘fair dealing’ as they only used less than 30 seconds of each clip. It is also relevant as it is in the public interest relating to a news story so makes the video relevant.

If you work for the BBC they have an archive that has a green, amber and red light system to show the status of the copyright material which is really useful. The archive also contains lots of footage interviews and images that belong to the BBC over a long period of time. This was how they were able to link James Bond to an Austin Martin story. They included a clip from the film ‘Casino Royal’, and also played the James Bond theme tune in the package. They were able to play a clip of Casino Royal as it has just been released which meant they could use the trailer as it was publicity. They were invited into the Austin Martin car garage so would have had consent to film in there. The old footage that they used from many years ago in the factory would have come from the very useful archive that the BBC keep as it would have been their own footage.

It is useful to remember that if you are working for a smaller company that you can use images if you cannot afford to pay for the video as these are a lot cheaper. Images are not covered by ‘fair dealing’ so there is no defence if you are caught using images that are copyright. You cannot take a picture of use a specific part of an image either if it is protected by copyright. It is common to see companies putting watermark across their images to prevent people from using them. There was an example in The Daily Mirror on the image of John Darwin with the headline ‘Canoe’s this in Panama’, when he fake his death and was found abroad. This image was red hot as no one else had it, the BBC asked The Mirror to buy rights to use it for a week which they accepted. However it was later found that The Mirror did not own rights for this image and the photographer sued both companies and earned lots of money from it.

Undeveloped ideas are not protected by copyright; so, ideas such as catch- phrases and slogans can be taken by others. There was a debate when the best selling book ‘The Divinci Code’ was released as the author of the books ‘Holy Blood’ and ‘Holy Grail’ said that it was their idea. They took Dan Brown to court for stealing their idea for a potential book but lost as there is no copyright law that covers ideas. Copyright maintains exclusivity which gives our product value. We can lift the thrust of stories and quotes from rivals through the fair dealing act.

There are certain things to be covered by the defence of fair dealing that must be done when reporting current events:

1.     Attribution- you must always attribute the work to the person that owns its copyright.

2.     In the public interest- what you are writing about must include some sort of public interest factor.

3.     Usage must be fair- you generally cannot use anymore than half of the work, it is down to your own judgement how much you think you can use.

If you want to use more of someone’s work then you should contact the rights holder.

Fair dealing allows you to criticise  copyright material in the form of a review. It allows you to gain wider reporting of stories in the public interest. Broadcast news obit of film stars so we can use famous movie clips for free.

The danger areas are things from YouTube, Facebook, sports coverage, photographs and archives. Sports coverage have big contracts for their filming and showing of goals. This is similar with the Formula One and their footage of the drivers racing in their cars.

There is a news access agreement for sport where you can’t re- roll and show goals over and over again all day. What you can do is show the goals during your four main bulletins throughout the day. A minute of action is usually what you see from football as it is seen as fair usage.

You should always recognise who has the copyright for material that you want to use; weather they are likely to sue or not. Contacting the rights holder can take a lot of time so it may be too late to use their work if you get permission. Make sure you let others in the office know if you get copyright cleared. Don’t lift material without reference up.

FOI Requests- Freedom of Information Act

This law came into effect in 2005, and gives people the right to ask companies to disclose information that they would not otherwise publish. There was a parliamentary scandal in 2009 with Heather Brooke and the House of Commons where she tried to get them to disclose details of their claiming expenses. They did not give the truth and every detail was leaked to The Telegraph Media Group about expenses paid for their second homes. None of this information had been disclosed in the official disclosure.

The difficulties with FOI are that public bodies delay answering requests and are slow when considering the 'public interest test' as to weather the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in secrecy. So it can take a long time for you to hear back from however they should respond to you within 20 days. This does not mean that they have to disclose the information to you within 20 days it means that they can supply the information or explain to you why it cannot be disclosed. It can take months for them to supply you with the actual information you are waiting for. Reasons they may not be able to disclose the information can be: they do not hold the information you are after so therefore cannot give it to you, it exceeds the cost limit for provision or it is exempt from disclosure.

There are 100,000 FOI requests a year of which only 12% are by journalists. The basic principle of FOI is: “Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled … to have that information communicated to him.” 

Public authorities under the act include:

• National government/ departments
• House of Commons/ House of Lords
• Armed Forces
• Universities, college and schools
• NHS

Exemptions from the act include:

• MI5 and the security and intelligence services
• Housing association, charities and private prisons
• Royal Family never came under the act but Schedule 7 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act gives, The Queen, Prince of Wales and Prince William absolute exemption. Prince Harry remains subject to qualified exemption if the information released is in the public interest.

It is slightly different as it covers the privacy law but, in August 2012, The Sun printed the naked photos of Prince Harry whilst he was out in Las Vegas. There was an argument as Prince Harry was off his public duty, in another country and was somehow papped in his private room naked. The Sun were warned by the Royals lawyers not to publish the images but went ahead to 'test the freedom of the press'. Their defence was that these images were available all around the world and was in the public interest to see them. They chose the headline carefully 'Heir it is' 'pic of Harry you have already seen on the internet' to defend the fact that people may have already seen these images. There was a debate as to weather the Prince's privacy had been breached as he was away on a private holiday with friends.

Journalists are informed to check the authorities website before submitting a request, as the information may already be disclosed there. Authorities under section 16 of the Act says authorities should 'offer advice and assistance' including how to frame the request to stay in the cost limit.

Information is explained in Section 84 of the Act Defines Information as 'information recorded in any form'. Authority are not required to gather information that it doesn't already have.

The Government Department must disclose information for free if it costs no more than £600. Other public authorities have a cost of £450. Staff time is rated at £25 an hour so a lot of research is expected, however they can supply the documents with a charge if it exceeds these limits.

Section 16 requires a public body to give a perspective or actual requests advice and assistance. They should, if asked tell a reporter before they make a request what information on the type they are interested in may be available and help them frame a request. They should give guidance to avoid a request breaching the cost limit. The Information Commissioner has made it clear that if a public authority tells a requester the information is already in the public domain, they must indicate where a bouts it can be found (section 16).

Absolute exemptions do not need an explanation with the reply other than it is exempt from FOI. Some of these include:

• Section 23, security such as MI5.
• Section 31, information held by authorities for law enforcement and functions such as where a speed camera is placed and when it will be working as it affects its purpose. General information such as how many drivers have been caught speeding by a specific camera in a time frame can be revealed. 
• Section 32, court records
• Section 43, commercial interests like trade secrets. 

If information is not supplied you can ask for an 'internal review' which should not take any longer than 40 days. The current Information Commissioner is Christopher Graham. Ofcom is subject to the Act but the PCC is not as it isn't an public authority.

Environmental Information (EIR) was set in 2005 and requires public authorities to provide information about environmental matters. This request has more powerful rights than if it was an FOI request so should be refereed to as an EIR. It covers subjects such as: air, water, land, natural sites, noise, radiation. Private water and sewage companies are not subject to the Act or the EIR in England.

EIR requests can be turned down on the grounds of national security. The EIR can be used to obtain reports of hygiene inspections at factories and restaurants as they cover information on 'the state of human health and safety'.

The Local Government Act 2000 must make available: records of decisions, the reasons why, details of alternative options, a copy of the agenda and a report for public meetings must be made available when given to cabinet members. Authorities must also publish a 'forward plan' detailing key decisions to be taken in the next four months. It must be 'free and available at all reasonable hours'.

Things that may be exempt from the public interest include:

• An employee/ job applicant
• A council tenant 
• Care/ adoption information of a child
• A persons financial or business affairs

The Adult Commission Act (ACA) 1998 and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003, covers the 'local authorities' such as police, fire and civil defence accounts, books deeds, contracts and bills etc. These accounts must be available for 20 full working days. Any persons interest may inspect them and see what they are paying out for etc.

The NHS must have minutes, agendas and reports open to the public for inspection for three years and background papers for two years. Exempt information includes a person providing or applying to provide NHS services. Or an employee of such person, or information relating to a persons health.

A relevant news story this week that relates to this is the 'England's Fattest Areas' story in the news. This information was from the Public Health England Data and highlights the obesity rate and the fattest areas in the country. I heard on the radio yesterday that local to us, Gosport, is the 6th fattest place in the country! These figures create a national story that affects everyone and highlights weight which is something that many people have issues with anyway. From these facts they have also made a prediction to shock the population that 50% of people in the UK will be obese by 2050.

An example of a successful FOI request from the past that WINOL found is below:

Some tips from the FOI master class include:

• Language- make sure you use the correct language or name for what you are asking about. If you use lingo that you are used to in journalism, other bodies can be difficult and say that they do not know what you mean. Always research the professional name for what you are asking for so that it is fully understood by whoever is receiving your FYP.
• This will get you the answer that you want and you can then translate it back into your own language.
• Always be aware of potential information from places such as schools, hospitals and doctors etc.
• Always keep the questions short and to the point and make sure it is clear what you are asking.
• Try to get comparative statistical information as statistics alone do not give you much to write about unless you can compare it to previous years or other statistics. 
• Ask the organisation to summarise what the activity actually means- gives you something to spice up your story.
• Its best to stick to a topic or subject you have had some experience with or a slight knowledge about it. 

Lots of other FOI examples can be found here:

http://www.cfoi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/foidisclosuresv1.0.pdf

Defamation and Libel

Last year, new laws were put into place to change the way that the Defamation Act works slightly. These changes were rather positive for journalists and the media as they provide us with some sort of protection against libel defamatory cases.

A famous libel case was the 'Sally Bercow' tweet situation where Lord Mcalpine was defamed by the BBC News night programme. They didn't actually name him specifically but they set off a chain of speculation that went round social media and lead to his name being uncovered. The BBC initiated the speculation as they gave pieces of information to the public that were then pieced together and lead to Lord Mcalpine. This is known as jigsaw identification where a company or a few institutions in the media reveal specific details such as occupation, age, where your from that give the public the ability to piece it all together.

It is important to remember however that juveniles under the age of 18 cannot be named in court proceedings. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/india-gang-rape-victims-father-1521289#.UukPcf1KOFI  In this case, reported in 'The Sunday People' back in January last year, his daughter was only referred to in reporting as 'India's daughter'. However with the permission of her dad as she was 17, the paper was allowed to name her for the first time after her death due to being gang raped.

We also need to consider inference which is what we draw from a statement as right thinking people. So if you think people will be able to establish who someone is by details you have, you shouldn't reveal them. An example of this would be within insider trading; where someone has inside knowledge of a deal that no one else in the public has. Morrison's were going to do a deal with Ocado last year and so the director of Morrison's went and brought a lot of shares in Ocado as he knew that their trade was going to rise. This is using market knowledge that no one else has or knows about to your advantage which is a criminal offence.

The actual meaning of defamation is if you write or broadcast something that 'tends' to lower someone in the estimation of right thinking people. If it causes them to be shunned or avoided or disparages them in their business, trade or profession. Or, if it exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt basically damaging their reputation. In the new Defamation Act these particular cases are less likely to have a jury present in them as the costing is too high. This is a shame for journalists as these stories used to make interesting, good ones to report.

One of the biggest defamatory cases was Chris Jefferies, where his reputation was completely destroyed during the Jo Yeates murder investigation where he was proven innocent. 

There is now a defamation via pictures act that will prevent a common danger in TV broadcasting. If you have careless use of background shots with a voice over what you are saying can be extremely defamatory to what the viewers are seeing on the screen. You must be careful not to identify people or company names or well known buildings. This should be especially avoided in stories such as sex abuse, fraud and all of the hard news. Shots of children cannot be used at any time unless permission from the school/ parents has been granted. But they should never be used in connection with some of the hard news topics. Instead broadcasters go around this by using blurred images and feet/ shoes. Referring back to last weeks point in the Mikaeel Kular trial reporting, where there are limited images of his mother; this is due to the Scottish law being hot on identifying someone if they have been charged.

Peoples reputation is precious, especially if you are in the public eye all of the time and have money. You need to think about who you are talking to and weather or not they are likely to sue you. You should look at your story and its meaning and see if a 'reasonable man' would find it defamatory or not. If the case comes to court there is still a chance that it may be put in front of a jury, even though it is a civil case. You should always ask someone else to read your work for you to avoid this happening and to get their opinion on it.

Publication+ Defamation+ Identification= Libel

There are some libel defences which  can be used in court.

1. A statement must cause 'serious harm' due to the new act 2013. In the case of someone that trades for profit it is not 'serious harm' unless it causes them to or they are likely to suffer serious financial loss.
2. Truth this used to be 'justification' and needs to be proven somehow.
3. Honest opinion must be free from malice so it is better if you are disinterested in the topic. You must show it is an opinion held by an 'honest person' based upon known fact at the time of writing.
4. Public Interest is if the defendant believes the issue is in the public interest. This is similar to the old 'Reynolds Defence' and covers mainly public safety areas.
5. Web Publication is a big part of the new act and is a defence for the operator. It needs to show that it was not them that published the article. It concentrates on the point that if you are made aware of something and you do not respond then you can be in trouble. For instance if we were made aware of something on WINOL such as a fact being incorrect, we would need to respond to this.

Other minor defences include: bone and antidote which is when defamation is removed by the content. You start by slagging something off but further down the article you talk positively of them.

There is no defence when you haven't checked your facts, or if you haven't 'referred up' which is check with the editor. You also have no defence if you have not put yourself in the shoes of the person/ company you are writing about. Do not get carried away by a 'spicy story. If you haven't heard back from the legal lawyers, do not publish something. Hold it back until you get the clear from them as it could cause you serious damage.

You should always recognise risk, who you are writing about and weather they are likely to sue, is the piece potentially defamatory? Do you have a defence? Ask the lawyer and the main thing is to get your story right!

Looking at the legislation website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013 goes into more detail of the points talked about above. It also highlights the protection of people writing journals if it relates to a scientific or academic matter. This is because large companies had started to try and sue people that wrote journals even though it was unlikely that they were causing them 'harm'.