Last week in Sydney, the Australian Press Council announced another initiative – a Reconciliation Action Plan aimed at the nation’s Indigenous media … Naaman Zhou was there, along with the council’s first Indigenous publication member, the Koori Mail … more
Year: 2017
Lies, damn lies and defamation
Some usual (and unusual) suspects feature in defamation actions around the country … New proceedings filed over stories in The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Courier Mail, The Daily Mail and on Channel Nine, 2GB and your ABC … Big-ticket trials in Melbourne and Perth … Mr Fluffy settles ... more
18C and D going nowhere fast
The parliamentary human rights committee report on sections 18C and 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act is unlikely to compel any change … Legal affairs columnist Richard Ackland explains why there is no political appetite (or popular support) for George Brandis’ “right to be bigots” ... more
Reasonableness – an issue for judge or jury?
Should reasonableness in the statutory qualified privilege defence be decided by judge or jury? In this paper, barrister Bruce Connell examines section 30 of the Defamation Act 2005 and concludes there are three bases on which the question should be determined by the trial judge ... more
Media and public to get “viewing terminals” for live-streamed court proceedings
Open justice to get a boost in the UK as the government prepares to introduce laws to allow journalists and the public access to “virtual” court proceedings via “viewing terminals” … Media and information law academic Judith Townend examines the proposals … more
Denis Wagner & Ors v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd & Ors
Queensland’s Wagner brothers (Denis, John, Neill and Joe) launched defamation actions against Harbour Radio, Alan Jones (pic) Radio 4BC and journalist Nick Cater over comments about the fatal 2011 Grantham flood disaster and construction of the Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba. ... more
The future of news: Journalism in a post-truth era
Harvard University recently hosted a discussion on journalism and truth in the era of Trump … Luminaries from the print and online worlds offered no immediate solutions to the problems of “post-truth”, according to Hannah Ryan, who was there ... more
Suppression city
The same old non-publication order regime emerges early in 2017 … Media succeeds in revoking one set of orders involving the trial on murder charges of Sydney property developer Ron Medich … Otherwise, open justice is closed for business ... more
Lili Chel v Fairfax Media & Vanda Carson
Second trial of former Kings Cross nightclub owner’s action against Fairfax Media gets off to a sleazy start … NSW Supreme Court jury watches an hour of porn in the interests of truth, contextual truth and fair report … The plaintiff explains her definition of “onstage sex” ... more
Trump’s America: the land of the not-so-free press
In an America where President Trump continues to hold the media in contempt and reporters are arrested and charged, where is the First Amendment? Sussex University journalism academic Ivor Gaber looks at what’s behind the parlous state of politico-press relations – and what’s at stake … more
Internet publication, liability and context
The recent Victorian Court of Appeal judgment involving Google illustrates the complexity inherent in applying defamation law to internet publication … Sydney media law academic Dr David Rolph explains why context is paramount ... more
Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v Shane Dowling (No 2)
Late 2016 saw a mixed result for those seeking to suppress publication … Two women a notorious blogger accused of having sex with Seven West Media boss Tim Worner succeeded … Not so former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas, who lost his bid to injunct an ombudsman’s report into police bugging operations ... more