Defamation and privacy are now two central issues in media law. While defamation law has long posed concerns for media publications, the emergence of privacy as a legal challenge has been relatively ...recent in many common law jurisdictions outside the US. A number of jurisdictions have seen recent defamation and privacy law reforms, which have often drawn on, or reacted against, developments elsewhere. This timely book examines topical issues in defamation and privacy law focused on media, journalism and contemporary communication. Aimed at a wide legal audience, it brings together leading and emerging analysts of media law to address current and proposed reforms and the impact of changes in communication environments, and to re-examine basic principles such as harm and free speech. This book will be of interest to all those working on commonwealth or US law, as well as comparative scholars from wider jurisdictions.
At the turn of the twentieth century, American journalists transmitted news across the country by telegraph. But what happened when these stories weren't true? In Bad News Travels Fast, Patrick C. ...File examines a series of libel cases by a handful of plaintiffs—including socialites, businessmen, and Annie Oakley—who sued newspapers across the country for republishing false newswire reports. Through these cases, File demonstrates how law and technology intertwined to influence debates about reputation, privacy, and the acceptable limits of journalism.This largely forgotten era in the development of American libel law provides crucial historical context for contemporary debates about the news media, public discourse, and the role of a free press. File argues that the legal thinking surrounding these cases laid the groundwork for the more friendly libel standards the press now enjoys and helped to establish today's regulations of press freedom amid the promise and peril of high-speed communication technology.
Die Ermittlung des anwendbaren Rechts bei Persönlichkeitsverletzungen über das Internet ist eine ungeklärte Streitfrage des IPR. De lege lata existieren bereits diskussionswürdige Ansätze; sie sind ...in ihren vielfältigen Varianten allerdings nur noch schwer überschaubar. Diese Arbeit macht es sich zur Aufgabe, die Meinungsströmungen in eine Systematik zu bringen und um weitere Aspekte zu ergänzen, insbesondere um solche der parallel im Internationalen Verfahrensrecht geführten Diskussion. Neben der lex lata wird auf der Ebene der lex ferenda der Entschließungsentwurf des Europäischen Parlaments für eine Kollisionsnorm für Mediendelikte einer kritischen Betrachtung unterzogen mit dem Ziel, rechtspolitische Empfehlungen für eine entsprechende europäische Anknüpfungsregel zu formulieren.
This essay focuses on provincial libel cases between private individuals tried at the court of Star Chamber during the early seventeenth century. Libelling saw personal scandals creatively couched in ...verses, visual symbols, or mock-ceremonies, and read, sung, and posted in early modern communities. This essay identifies a range of 'manners' of libel, and compares a libellous 'Stage plaie' to a set of libellous mock-proclamations and a 'book' of playing card knaves. The essay argues that libels should be understood as functioning on a spectrum of performance. They should therefore prompt an expansion of the boundaries of early performance.
The rise of automated journalism—the algorithmically driven conversion of structured data into news stories—presents a range of potentialities and pitfalls for news organizations. Chief among the ...potential legal hazards is one issue that has yet to be explored in journalism studies: the possibility that algorithms could produce libelous news content. Although the scenario may seem far-fetched, a review of legal cases involving algorithms and libel suggests that news organizations must seriously consider legal liability as they develop and deploy newswriting bots. Drawing on the American libel law framework, we outline two key issues to consider: (a) the complicated matter of determining fault in a case of algorithm-based libel, and (b) the inability of news organizations to adopt defenses similar to those used by Google and other providers of algorithmic content. These concerns are discussed in light of broader trends of automation and artificial intelligence in the media and information environment.
Witchcraft beliefs have been the cause of some of the cruellest crimes against vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly, in many African societies since the pre-colonial era. People accused of ...being witches are often subjected to all manner of mistreatments - ostracism/banishment, discrimination, physical assault or torture, lethal violence and so on. However, there are rare instances where the hunted (the accused witches) turn the tables on the hunters (their accusers) with claims of defamation, but such legal battles tend to be complicated. The present study explores the Ghanaian courts' attitude towards witchcraft-related defamation claims/lawsuits, examining how they have navigated the complex and often confusing system of legal pluralism since the 1970s. It establishes that mere insults and name-calling, including witchcraft accusations, are generally not actionable under the received common law. However, under the Ghanaian customary law, insults and name-calling that impair or are likely to impair one's dignity are actionable 'per se'. The paper notes that the courts in Ghana at times apply the principles of both customary law and the received common law when dealing with witchcraft-related defamation claims.
Permanent injunctions prohibiting defamatory speech are increasingly sought and ordered following a finding of liability. This may seem unproblematic since a court will have found the particular ...speech to be unlawful-defamatory and likely false. However, there are good reasons to be cautious in permanently enjoining defamatory speech.
This article shows that courts have recognized a test for permanent injunctions in defamation cases based on a misinterpretation of the case law-a test which is inconsistent with first principles of equitable relief.
It then proposes a number of guidelines and principles for permanent injunctive relief in defamation actions. Most proposals relate to ensuring that an injunction is actually necessary to prevent future reputational harm, while some are more innovative and perhaps controversial, such as creating a serious harm requirement and precluding injunctions where comment rather than fact is at issue. It is also a plea to lawyers and especially judges not to be too quick to seek or impose injunctions simply because defamatory speech is published online.
The development of internet technologies has shed light on the confusion surrounding the law of publication in actions for defamation. As recognised by Kirby J, 'the remarkable features of the ...Internet... makes it more than simply another medium of human communication'. It is therefore difficult to apply the law developed in the context of more 'traditional' forms of media. This difficulty was even pre-empted by the High Court of Australia ('High Court') in 'Trkulja v Google LLC' ('Trkulja'), where it was recognised that 'it is the application of the law to the particular facts of the case which tends to be difficult, especially in the relatively novel context of internet search engine results'. Yet, the rules applicable to publication continue to be described as settled,6 and even so far as 'tolerably clear'. This appears to be far from the case, as courts continue to grapple with the meaning of publication. Still, 'Google LLC v Defteros' ('Defteros') represents a win for a digital intermediary such as Google, as the High Court held that Google was not the publisher of a hyperlink to an article containing defamatory statements and imputations.
This article considers the development of the offer to make amends regime in Australian defamation law. It traces the evolution of the regime from the United Kingdom provisions that inspired ...piecemeal reform in Australia; to the 2005 model achieved by the so-called 'Uniform Defamation Acts'; to the model created by 2021 amendments to the Model Defamation Provisions, now in force throughout much of Australia, which has altered the balance of the 2005 regime. While much of this development manifested an increasing concern by legislators to encourage parties to defamation disputes to resolve their differences without litigation, the 2021 amendments are perhaps distinguishable. This article analyses the new regime, arguing that it may lead to the protraction of defamation disputes and undermine the objects of the Uniform Defamation Acts.
The law on defamation balances 'the right to freedom of expression and the right to reputation'. Recent defamation proceedings brought by billionaire and former politician Clive Palmer, against the ...Premier of Western Australia ('WA') Mark McGowan, demonstrated that 'a politician litigating about the barbs of a political adversary might be... a... futile exercise'. Palmer, an 'indefatigable litigant', commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia alleging that McGowan defamed him by making certain comments during press conferences, including referring to Palmer as the 'enemy' of WA. The proceedings were the subject of several interlocutory decisions, and consumed considerable time and resources of the Court. In a final judgment determining the proceedings, 'Palmer v McGowan' No 5 (2022) 404 ALR 621 ('Palmer'), Lee J found that Palmer and McGowan had each defamed the other. However, the 'glaring disproportion between the damages awarded and the extent of legal expense' demonstrated that 'the game had not been worth the candle'.
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