Gazette

The Communications & Media Law Association recently hosted a seminar on current issues in defamation … Sydney barrister Matthew Lewis presented this timely and entertaining paper on media law and the internet ... more

A New Zealand lawyer has found a way of getting abusive and possibly defamatory material about her removed from the internet indefinitely … Wellington barrister Steven Price reflects on a radical judgment that by-passes defamation law ... more

The NSW Supreme Court’s Defamation List Judge Henric Nicholas is due to retire in July … He agreed to share his thoughts on media law and practice, past and present, in this exclusive interview with the Gazette ... more

Gill Phillips is director of editorial legal services for Guardian News & Media Limited (publisher of The Guardian and The Observer and guardian.co.uk) ... She was recently in Australia and agreed to answer some gently probing questions over breakfast ... more

Andrew Rule has been a journalist for nearly forty years. He is also a successful author and publisher, most recently of the Underbelly true crime series. He agreed to share his thoughts on journalism and the media, lawyers and the law, the perils of independent publishing and much more ... more

Lord Justice Leveson did not favour a public interest defence for journalists … But UK barrister Joseph Lewis argues it should be incorporated in the new press regulation scheme ... more

The European Court of Human Rights has once again affirmed the protection of journalists’ sources, this time establishing that newspapers themselves also have rights … Hugh Tomlinson QC reviews the judgment in this Inforrm article ... more

Suppression orders are on the rise in the two busiest jurisdictions, according to recent research … Some of the more frightening figures were on display at a seminar organised by the Centre for Media and Communications Law … Alix Piatek was there ... more

The European Court of Human Rights recently upheld a blanket ban on “political” advertising on radio and television in the UK … Steven Price looks at the decision and compares it with America’s free-for-all approach ... more

A case of heavy-handed suppression of information in the public interest? New Zealand barrister Steven Price looks at a recent interim injunction granted to the Earthquake Commission ... more

Critics of the decision which found Andrew Bolt guilty of racial discrimination claim anti-discrimination laws impinge on free speech … But what of defamation law? Media law academic Dr David Rolph looks at both Acts and finds each wanting ... more

Free speech under threat, everywhere … In this Inforrm article, Adam Wagner looks at three recent cases – in France, the West Bank and the UK ... more

One of the Leveson Report’s key recommendations is a system of arbitration to resolve complaints about the press outside court proceedings … In this Inforrm article Hugh Tomlinson QC looks at how it might deliver justice for both sides ... more

Footballers on trial, journalists on the front foot, and lawyers stepping left of field to propose alternatives to defamation law … ABC media lawyer Lynette Houssarini reports on Melbourne University’s recent Centre for Media and Communications Law Conference, Media, Communications, Publics ... more

The High Court quashes any hope for the Lange defence in two recent judgments, one involving “offensive” letters sent through the post and the other an Adelaide “street preacher” ... Sydney media lawyer Graham Hryce looks at where and why it all went wrong ... more

A recent English Court of Appeal judgment has determined Google is potentially liable as a secondary publisher … London-based media lawyer Stephen Collins looks at the reasoning and finds its consequences unreasonable in the circumstances ... more

Hollywood’s war on being terrorized by paparazzi has moved from California to Hawaii. Michael Cameron reports from New York on the new fight between celebrities and the entertainment news industry ... more

Conflicting judgments on the liability of Google as a publisher make libel law online increasingly uncertain. Melbourne media lawyer Leanne O’Donnell reviews several recent decisions in the UK and Australia ... more

In the second part of this Inforrm article on libel, privacy and freedom of expression online, Hugh Tomlinson QC looks at how a “law of cyberspace” might develop ... more

Minter Ellison partner Peter Bartlett has been at the top of the media law game for decades, instructing an enviable list of media companies. He agreed to share his thoughts on many matters – including defamation, privacy, phone-hacking, media regulation, protection of sources, super-injunctions, suppression orders and the vexations of anti-discrimination legislation ... more

Late last year, the Leveson Report recommended wide-ranging reform of the UK media, but has anything concrete been put in place by media or government? In this Inforrm piece, Brian Cathcart looks at the current state of play in both realms ... more