Media Law Year Three - Lecture Three. Defamation and Libel.

Libel is concerned with three important requirements:

 

The statement made must be defamatory. The statement must tend to do one of these four things:

• Expose the person to hatred, ridicule or contempt,
• Casue the person to be shunned and avoided 
• Discredit the person in their work or business
• Lower them in the eyes of 'right thinking people'

The publication must be in a permanent form e.g. a newspaper or on TV.

 

It must identify a certain person e.g. if I make the statement "All Americans are stupid", an American man (however clever he is) cannot sue me for libel because I didn't identify him personally.

 

This brings me on to what defamation doesn't cover: it doesn't affect feelings e.g. if an American feels hurt by me calling all Americans "stupid".  Defamation doesn't affect comment as long as the comment is your honest opinion.

Defamation is linked to reputation, the clue is in the name: de-faming (removing their fame).

 

Your reputation is not what you think of yourself, but what others think of you.  This is why defamation cases can make you very rich if you win.

There are three defences that can protect journalists again legal action: the statement is true, the statement is the honest opinion of the journalist and and privilege.

Absolute and Qualified Privilege

Absolute privilege gives people like judges, lawyers and MPs the power to say whatever they like about anyone without the risk of a defamation claim being made. This also allows journalists to report this information.

Qualified privilege allows journalists to publish what they like as long as it's in the public interest.  This power can be taken away if their story is not accurate or fair.  These two cover the three main legal principles of a news story: FAST, ACCURATE, FAIR. 

Media Law Year Three - Lecture Two. Reporting Crime

Prejudice and contempt are the two main risks that journalists face when reporting crime.

A case becomes legally active when the police make an arrest, the issue of an arrest warrant, magistrates issue a summons, person charged. After this point, journalists must be aware of the risks of reporting certain information.

No prejudical content can be published before the accused has stood trial, this is to stop any information about the defendent(s) being made available to the jury whilst the trial is taking place. A case could collapse if information about the defendent(s) is in the public domain as this may sway jury members to a certain verdict if they know of it.

The Mikaeel Kular murder case has the potential for contempt. Mikaeel's mother Rosdeep reported him missing and his body was found and Rosdeep was charged. Mail Online recently published information about Rosdeep's lifestyle, it ran the headline "Party lifestyle of Mikaeel's mother who called herself the 'dancing queen'". The article has been criticised for its prejudical content, it may portray her in a bad light and deny her the right to a fair trial.

If the content of the article was contested legally, the Mail Online's defence would be the fade factor, this means that the information published could fade away from the press and public consciousness in the period between when the article was published and the trial. If the trial was in the next few weeks, I believe that this defence would not hold up, because a jury member could have read the article when it was first published and would most likely remember the content of it, therefore making it impossible for them to make a fair judgement.


Key stages of a trial

Prosecution opening
Prosecution witnesses
Defence opening
Defence witnesses
Judges summing up
Jury sent out and deliberation
Sentencing (may happen weeks or months after intial trial)


Three categories of offences

Indicatable - trial at Crown Court for serious offences.
Summary - Magistrates Court only
Either way - Defendent can choose to be tried at Crown or Magistrates Court


Information that can be included in a pre-trial court report

Defendent names, ages, addresses and jobs
Charges faced/summary
Name of court and name of magistrate
Names of solictors and barristers present
Date and place of where case is to be adjourned to
Bail arrangements
If legal aid has been granted or not


Magistrate powers

Six month jail sentence
Suspended sentence
Community orders
Conditional discharge (an agreement between a defendent and the court that he/she will not be convicted as long as they do not commit a crime within a specified time period.)

Magazine journalism: generic magazine formats

Features can be defined as the editorial matter in a newspaper or magazine, on radio or TV which is factual but not news.

Differences between news and features

NEWS                                                             FEATURES

Telling                                                             Seeing

Brief/Summary                                                Detailed

Aimed at a whole audience                            Aimed at a niche market

Length varies (depending on importance)      Length fixed by editorial structure/news agenda

Defined style                                                  A variety of styles

Pictures are useful                                          Pictures are essential

Published instantly                                         Published according to schedule

Written by staff reporters                               Written by production staff/freelancers         

Led by the news agenda                                 Led by production (structure of publication)

 

Magazines must consist of almost all feature material and newspapers have some, but mainly news. This is the same as a formatted news TV or radio programme such as Today or Newsnight. These will have mini features that are used to pack out a programme.

When people read newspapers and watch TV news programmes or listen to radio news programmes, they usually come for the news and stay for the features.

Features can help to define a newspaper as a certain type for example The Times’ is famous for its education supplement and the quality of the features in it.

Feature formats

Profile – Stating the facts about someone and their life.

Confessional interview – A first person account of an experience e.g. with a plane crash survivor

Review – The writer is commenting on something and giving their opinion e.g. film review.

Documentary – A video documenting an event e.g. World In Action.

Investigation – Lifting the lid on a story.

Observational – Putting yourself into a situation, so you can give a first-hand account.

Reader response – Getting the readers involved, usually competitions.

Fashion – Picture led (photo shoots).

News – An extended news story, but doesn’t have to have a peg.

Feature interview – An interview with someone, with their opinions e.g an interview with a football player about the upcoming season.