A presentation given to participants at the Community Journalism Conference, Cardiff University, 16 January 2013, setting out the legal landscape for online publishers and asking for responses to a survey

1. Media law and social media
Judith Townend
Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism
City University London
http://meejalaw.com

2. Traditional news orgs…
• ‘Night lawyers’: specialised legal professionals
to check copy at the last minute
• In-house lawyers
• Journalists with media law training
• Legal insurance?
• Willing to take risks (can make payouts)
• High profile and well-connected

3. But new sites are springing up…
• Hyperlocal sites
• Community news projects
• Consumer blogs
• Student blogs
• Online chat/debate forums
• ‘User-generated content’ (UGC)
• Social networking

4. So what about media law…?
It applies to everyone, ‘journalist’ or not
More areas to consider than ever:
- defamation, contempt, copyright, privacy
- Communications Act 2003, Sexual Offences
(Amendment) Act 1992, Malicious
Communications Act 1988see CPS
consultation

5. Everyone’s a publisher now
• You might only have a few followers and have
restricted your privacy settings, but your social
media updates are ‘publications’ and
therefore you need to educate yourself about
basic media law dos and don’ts, around areas
such as defamation (libel/slander), breach of
privacy and confidence, copyright and
contempt of court

6. Limited data but…
Criminal Civil
• 653 people charged with • Numerous reports of
crimes involving Twitter and bloggers and social media
Facebook in 2012 users receiving threats of
• 4,908 reports of offences defamation claims
related to Facebook and • Several defamation cases
Twitter in 2012 involving small social
(source: PA Media Lawyer, December 2012) media profiles (eg. Cairns
• 9 people plead guilty to v Modi)
naming rape victim on • McAlpine settlements
Twitter and Facebook - with tweeters
offence under the Sexual
Offences (Amendment) Act
1992 (BBC, November 2012)

7. Libel and privacy
• Defamation: Protects individuals’ professional
and personal reputations but there are various
defences available to publishers. It is called
libel in its permanent form (including tweets,
Facebook updates, emails…)
• Privacy: arising from law of breach of
confidence, now a separate cause of action
under Article 8, Human Rights Act 1998

8. Survey
• How confident do you feel about media law
and what are your experiences?
Please visit:
http://bit.ly/cardiffsurvey

9. Survey - 2010
• For ‘small’ or independent publishers based in
the UK:
– What legal resources do you use?
– What legal encounters have you experienced?
– Do you feel there are enough resources available
to you?
• Survey conducted using Google Docs; self-
selecting group of participant
• 71 responses

10. The results

11. On legal trouble…
• Of the 19 online writers who were contacted over a
legal matter in the last two years (27 per cent), only
seven sought legal advice, which was paid for in four
instances. The remaining 12 dealt with it alone.
• Only two of the cases reached court. For six of the
publishers, the case was dropped at an earlier stage.
Two published corrections or clarifications. Nine
involved payment and/or removal of
material, although in two cases this was only partial
removal of material.

12. On legal resources…
• 71 respondents were completely divided: 46%
said they did not think there was enough legal
information and advice at hand; 54% said there
was an adequate amount.
• But the overall picture contrasted with answers
from those who had encountered legal trouble in
the last two years: only 32% of those 19
respondents felt they were able to access
adequate legal information, 68% did not.

13. Resources used…
• Of the respondents who cited the resources
they used, the most popular was McNae’s
Essential Law for Journalists, with 17
respondents mentioning the law title
“McNae’s for frontline advice,” one said.
“I ring the NUJ if I need further help.”

14. On what they want…
• A mixed reaction, but some felt they’d like to see
some kind of additional legal support:
“I think there’s a real case, nonetheless, for an
organisation that serves to help small-scale online
publishers with legal cases when they do arise. I’d say
that this shouldn’t be restricted to ‘professional
journalists’, since one’s professionalism or otherwise
doesn’t have much bearing any more on how
often/much you publish and how much trouble you
can get yourself into!”

15. More research is *still* needed
• How many online publishers have legal
insurance?
• How much do publishers actually know about
the law?
• How many online publishers are directly
affected by legal threats (criminal and civil)?
• Can some kind of organisational support be
developed? What shape should it take?
• What role for Public Legal Education?

16. Key resources
While media law can be confusing and often
unclear, there are plenty of resources out there.
Spend some time reading the key online guides
and get hold of a copy of a basic and up-to-date
textbook like McNae’s Essential Law for
Journalists
Q: What resources do you use?

17. Training
Training in media law will not only help you
protect yourself against legal action but it will
help you maintain your right to freedom of
expression, which includes the right to receive
as well as impart information

18. It’s changing
The civil and criminal law around blogging and
social media isn’t set in stone: try and keep up
to date with media law news – new legislation
as well as case law - so that you are well-
informed about latest developments

19. Resources - guides
• BBC College of Journalism Law
guide, http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/collegeofjournalism/law
• Centre for Investigative Journalism guide to
libel, http://www.tcij.org/resources/handbooks/libel
• David Price Solicitors & Advocates’ guide to media
law, http://www.lawyers-media.com/a-guide-to-media-law/
• McNae’s student
resources, http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199211548/
• Media Trust Local360 Network, Law, Ethics and Funding
guide, http://local360network.mediatrust.org/howto/law-ethics-
and-funding
• Sense About Science guide to libel law for
bloggers, http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/bloggers-and-
libel-law.html
• More at: http://meejalaw.com/useful-links/

20. Resources – organisations
• Article 19, http://www.article19.org/
• Citizens’ Advice Bureau, http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
• Early Resolution, http://www.earlyresolution.co.uk/
• English PEN, http://www.englishpen.org/
• Index on Censorship, http://www.indexoncensorship.org/
• Information Commissioner’s Office, http://www.ico.gov.uk/
• JUSTICE, http://www.justice.org.uk/
• Media Legal Defence Initiative, http://www.mediadefence.org/
• National Union of Journalists, http://www.nuj.org.uk/
• National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ),
http://www.nctj.com/
• Out-Law.com, http://www.out-law.com
• Sense About Science, http://www.senseaboutscience.org

21. Further reading
• Speech by Lord Justice Leveson (7 December 2012) ‘Privacy and the
Internet’, http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/speeches/2012/lj-
leveson-speech-privacy-internet-07122012
• Index on Censorship / English PEN report, ‘Free Speech is Not For
Sale’ (2009), http://www.libelreform.org/our-report
• Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued by Mark Pearson
(2012)
• Covering Criminal Courts: A Survival Guide by Sarah Chapman
(2011)
• McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, 21st edition by Mark Hanna
and Mike Dodd (2012)
• Media law and blogging research by Judith Townend
(2010), http://meejalaw.com/project2010/

22. Meeja Law & Twitter
@jtownend / @meejalaw / @medialawUK

23. Thank you!
http://meejalaw.com
http://city.ac.uk/lawjusticejournalism
Any questions?
• jt.townend@gmail.com
• http://jtownend.com
• @jtownend / @meejalaw