Gagging orders to be gagged!

Five celebrities may experience many a sleepless night after a judge overturned an order which banned news outlets from making known a top celebrity and details of his private life.

On Friday, Mr Justice Tugendhaut, who was the acting judge in the John Terry scandal earlier this year, reversed the decision of a received gagging order, legally known as a super injunction, awarded to a premier league footballer in August. This reversal may now open the way for five other super injunctions awarded to celebs to be challenged.

A media law expert said last night:
'They will all be trembling now'
Media law expert Mark Stephens - of for top London firm Finers Stephens Innocent has re-iterated this point:
'Celebrities will be trembling because we are now seeing that some of these injunctions should never have been granted. Judges are now looking at applications more critically.'

He has now warned that celebrities may use this to attempt to 'pull the wool over judge's eyes' by claiming that this new decision may lead to them being blackmailed about their private lives.

This decision is a major win for journalists and their press freedom.

Media Law

Freedom of Information

Week 6

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into action in 2005, which created a general right of access to information held by different braches of the government and other public authorities in the UK.

In the past, requests under the Act requiring a disclosure from the Government included (1) the advice given by the Attorney General on the legality of the UK's part in the invasion of Iraq and (2) a draft of the controversial dossier published by the Goverment justifying the invasion.

Although most of the stories that make it onto the national news channels are involving controversial or shocking disclosures provoking a reaction throughout the whole of the country, it is important to remember that local and regional journalists also regularly use this Act to retrieve disclosures. Examples of these have included;

• how many children have been excluded from local schools;
• the number of under-16s that have required local hospital treatment for alcohol-related illness and drug issues.

BBC journalists have have managed to receive disclosures concerning;

• elderly residents of a nursing home who allegedly suffered verbal and physical abuse;
• the fact that only two councils had managed to meet Government targets on the welfare of children in council care.

Heather Brooke, the author of her book Your Right To Know, has summed up the Act in a nutshell by saying: 'While not quite the sword of truth some had hoped, the new laws are an effective chisel against government secrecy and corruption.'

The Act covers about 100,000 bodies in the public sector, which includes to name a few:

• the armed forces;
• national park authorities
• universities, schools and colleges - if in the state sector;
• national government departments and ministries.

There are various public bodies that are exempt from the Act. These include:

• The UK's security and intelligence services - MI5, MI6, and GCHQ.
• Courts and Tribunals.

A public authority who receives a request for information must normally make a response within 20 working days, either giving the information or with an explanation as to why it cannot be supplied. This may be because:

• the cost of retrieving the information is to expensive;
• the public authority does not hold the information;
• the information is covered by exemptions under the Act, and therefore does not have to be supplied.

The Act permits authorities to refuse to supply information in certain circumstances, known as exemptions. There are two types of exemptions; absolute and qualified.

The absolute exemptions are contained in:

• Section 21 - information reasonably accessible by other means.
• Section 23 - information supplied to the public authority by or relating to bodies dealing with security matters.
• Section 32 - court records.
• Section 40 - personal information.
• Section 41 - information provided to the authority in confidence by another party.

By qualified exemptions, the Act means those that if the public authority decides not to supply the information in these categories it must gives reasons, showing how it has applied the 'public interest test', laid down in the Act, in order to justify its refusal to provide the information.
The Information Commissioner lists some of the public interest factors that are likely to encourage the public authority to disclose information:

• Promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public money.
• Bringing to light information affectingpublic health and safety.
• Furthering the understanding and participation in the public debate of issues of the day.

The qualified exemptions are:

• Section 24 -information which if disclosed is likely to prejudice national security.
• Section 27 - information which if disclosed is likely to prejudice international relations.
• Section 31 - information held by an authority for law enforcement functions.
• Section 35 - information which relates to formulation or development of Governement policy.
• Section 36 - information the disclosure of which is likely to prejudice effective conduct of public affairs. Heather Brooke states: 'This is the weakest exemption, frequently overturned on appeal. A public authority's reliance on it shows it is desperate and grasping at straws.'
• Section 43 - commercial interests.

John Connor Press Associates [a freelance news agency] v Information Commissioner

In this case, the Information Tribunal decided that the National Maritime Museum should in fact of disclosed information regarding its finances concerning its purchase of a particular set of artworks. The Museum had argued that when it received the FOI request, it was in discussion with another artist about a different project and their ability to ensure value for public money would of been prejudicedh had information regarding this of been released. The tribunal decided however that no real and significant risk of such a prejudice existed.

Derry City Council v Information Commissioner

This case involved a request by an employee of the Belfast Telegraph for details of an agreement between Ryanair and the council regarding the operation of the Derry City Airport, including how much Ryanair had paid for the airport facility. As a result of an appeal to the Information Commissioner, the council provided the information by way of a document, although some information was missing. The Commissioner upheld a complaint about the information that was not included.

Recent news stories

Tuesday 26th October 2010

The Ministry of Defence has released details of incidents in which troops attacked Afghan civilians, leading the actions of three British military units in Afghanistan to be questioned.
The Guardian made a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which disclosed that of casualities caused by Brtish troops, two thirds of those involoved troops from these three units, causing concern. These were among thousands of incidents that were spoke about in US army logs posted by Wikileaks, the popular whistle-blowing website.

Sunday 17th October 2010

A FOI request resulted in the British Governor of a Caribbean island to question the ownership of a suggested deal between a company allegedly owned by Conservative MP, Lord Ashcroft and a prime minister. Both are now being investigated over alleged corruption, Foreign Office documents suggest.

Monday 11th October 2010

It been has reported that local councils are using the FOI act as a means of avoiding answering questions. Judith Townend reported that when a news blogger questioned a local council of the Isle of Wight about a broken lift, they were told to try and get the answers to this by putting in a FOI request.
Trinity Mirror's multimedia chief, David Higgerson says he sees one or two example of this a week and beleives this 'can kick a tricky issue into the long grass for 20 days (or longer), by which the public body involved will hope the media agenda has simply moved on.'

Recent legal developments

The Conservative- Lib dem coalition governement intend to extend the powers of the FOI act, in order to increase transparency.
One of the central issues that have been scrutinised recently is the issue of 'aggregating public interest considerations'. In cases and particularly so, where the question of exercising the public interest test is needed, the question arises as to whether;

1. It is available to the public authority to aggregate all the public interest considerations which come up in under the different exemptions in a single public interest balancing exercise; or
2. the authority must undergo discrete public interest balancing tests under each individual exemption.

Media Law

Official secrets, Confidentiality and Privacy

Week 5

Official secrets concern government secrets, which if leaked, can lead to prosecution. The

Official Secrets Act 1911, with various amendments, is the leading statute concerning this area of confidentiality.
The six areas of the government that are protected by the act are:

• security and intelligence
• defence
• international relations
• foreign confidences
• information which might lead to the commission of crime
• the special investigation powers under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 and the Security Service Act 198
 

S.1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 concerns information that is of use to the enemy and can result in up to 14 years in prison.

S.2 concerns 'silly secrets' of any establishment which comes under the branch of the government i.e. the post office and any internal information that is disclosed.

Clive Ponting
The leading case on this area is considered to be the Clive Ponting case. He was charged with leaking an internal Ministry of Defence document about the General Belgrano, the Argentinian cruiser which British forces sank during the 1982 Falklands war, which killed 360 people. Lady Thatcher's government claimed that the Belgrano was threatening British lives when it sank, but Ponting's document suggested that it in fact was sailing out of the exclusion zone, causing gross embarrassment to the government. Despite the judge indicating that the jury should convict him, he was cleared of any breach under the Official Secrets Act.

The 'Spycatcher' case
In 1987, former MI5 officer Peter Wright published a book named Spycatcher, alleging that in the 1960s, the MI5 conspired to discredit the Labour prime minister Harold Wilson. Thatcher's government claimed that Wright owed a duty throughout his life to the confidentiality of internal government activity. Despite this, Wright published his book in America and Australia, with copies making their way into the UK. The government then tried extraditing Wright, who was now living in Australia. A House of Lords judgement came in 1988, which overturned a blanket injunction across all media outlets from reporting information from former intelligence officers.
Lord Goff said: "In a free society, there is a continuing public interest that the workings of government should be open to scrutiny and criticism."

The Bill Goodwin case
In 1989, an engineering company, Tetra Ltd, who were in financial difficulties had prepared a business plan in order to obtain a substantial bank loan. A copy of the draft plan 'disappeared' from the company's offices and the next day Mr Goodwin received a telephone call from an unidentified source giving him information about the company. This included the amount of the anticipated loan and the forecast results for the company. Goodwin then proceeded to check this and so he phoned the company and its bankers. Tetra Ltd obtained injunctions against the magazine The Engineer and the trainee reporter Bill Goodwin. Goodwin and The Engineer were required to hand over notes disclosing the source of their information. Goodwin refused to do so and was fined £5,000. In 1996, the ECHR held that the court order and the fine violated his right to freedom of expression under Art 10 of the ECHR.

Sarah Tisdall
On a rare occasion one case did result in a prosecution: The young Foreign office clerk leaked details of when controversial American cruise missiles would be arriving on British soil, to The Guardian newspaper. She was found guilty under the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to six months imprisonment, although only serving three.

Commercial secrets which are governed by confidentiality common law.

 Privacy became a fundamental, residual right by the enactment of the Humans Right 1998.
 It is contained under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which covers the 'right to respect for private and family life'. 
The article states that:
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

There is no set privacy law in the UK. So the judiciary are left to consider individual cases to determine how the privacy law is England will be determined.
Art 8 is always balanced against Art 10 of the ECHR - the freedom of expression.
In terms of Art 8, invasion of privacy is considered lawful if it has a clear public duty. For example, a policeman exercising an arrest in lawful.
However, problems of privacy may arise if photographs of the offender are published. Invasion of privacy is also legal if consent is obtained. Consent can be achieved in two ways: explicitly and implicitly.

 There are four factors that will 'define' if san incident can be rendered to be an invasion of one's privacy;
 1. If it has the necessary quality of confidence i.e. as Justice Eady commented 'not just tittle-tattle' and;
 2. it has been provided in 'circumstances imposing an obligation' and;
 3. there has been no permission to pass on the information and;
4. it has caused actual detriment.

The landmark area in this case is Campbell v MGN Ltd. The case concerned a photographs of Naomi Campbell coming out of a Narcotic Anonymous meeting. The "Mirror" then published these photographs which included pixilations of the faces of other attendees of the meeting. This was done in order to protect their identities. The headline alongside the photograph read "Naomi: I'm a drug addict". Attached was an article which contained very general details relating to Ms Campbell's treatment for drug addiction, which included the number of meetings that she had attended. Campbell claimed damages for breach of confidentiality and compensation under s.13 of the Data Protection act 1998. Morland J upheld both these claims at trial. The Court of appeal reversed this decision. Ms Campbell appealed this decision. The issue here was whether the publication of the additional information contained in the photographs along with the nature and details of Ms Campbell's treatment was a breach of confidence. In the House of Lords, the decision from the Court of Appeal was reversed by a 3:2 majority and it was held that the additional information was confidential as its publication would have caused substantial offence to a person of ordinary sensibilities in Ms Campbell's position. Ms Campbell's Article 8 rights outweighed the Defendant's Art 10 rights and so as a result the publication of the additional information was an infringement of Ms Campbell's Article 8 rights and she was entitled to damages. In light of this decision, it has been commented that similar to the decision in Reynolds v Times Newspapers, the House of Lords judgements create more questions than answers to how privacy law will work in the future. Giving practical advice to wannabe claimants on the scope of the law relating to privacy is now difficult.

In a Pennsylvanian court, a US couple lost their battle against Google, claiming that the street view technology 'invaded their privacy.' Aaron and Christine Boring accused the giant search engine of privacy violation, negligence, unjust enrichment and trespassing for showing their home in the street view technology, which adds 360-degree-street-level photographs to Google world maps. They were seeking more than $25,000 (£17,400) in compensation and damages. Judge Amy Hay said that the Borings could not prove they have suffered as a result of having their home photographed, as they had not contacted Google asking them to remove the images. In addition to this, the Borings had published their addresses on court documents.

 Privacy law has recently adorned legal websites such as IPkat, as more and more celebrities have been claiming their privacy has been without justification. These have come from the likes of Max Mosely, Sienna Miller and Tiger Woods. The most recent comes from the rumoured soon-to-be latest royal, Kate Middleton, who reportedly instructed solicitors, after photographs of her playing tennis in Germany were published. It is reported that Ms Middleton feels her privacy rights have been infringed and requests that the pictures be withdrawn from the publication and damages to be awarded from the photographers and distributing agency. The European Court of Human Rights later held that the UK's actions had violated the right to freedom of speech. In a neat historical detail, David Shayler - then editor of the Durham University student newspaper - also published some of Wright's allegations.

Prisoners are people too.....

News today comes of the decision to allow prisoners the right to vote. The decision was made after a long-running battle between ministers and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This will lift the ban and give the opportunity for more than 70,000 inmates to discover which side of political fence they are on.

David Cameron is said to be 'exasperated and furious' at abolition of the 140-year blanket ban on prisoner voting. Cabinet officer Mark Harper told MPs that:
"The UK's blanket ban on prisoners voting was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in October 2004.
"This Government accepts, as did the previous government, that there is a need to change law.
"It's a legal obligation, not a choice, and we are considering how to implement the judgement."

After a challenge from John Hirst, the ECHR ruled in 2004 that the blanket ban was discriminatory and was a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Shockingly, advisors were warned that in ignoring this ruling, they may be left with a colossal compensation payout, totalling millions.

Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust has come out with the controversial statement:
'In a modern prison system you would expect prisoners to have rights and responsibilities and politicians to take an active interest in their constituency prisons.'

I can envisage a whole load of controversy sparked as a result if this latest example of what many believe are the wide open human rights floodgates. Are the installation of mobile phones, televisions and Xboxes simply not enough for those who do end up with a conviction? Obviously not! It appears their political affiliation now needs to be known to our democratic, 'civilised' society.

Sexsomniac rights!

Darren Greenwood, who appeared on 'This Morning' today, walked out of court free last week, after a jury accepted his defence of the rare medical condition, sexsomnia.

'Sexsomnia is a form of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnia (similar to sleepwalking) that causes people to engage in sexual acts such as masturbation, fondling, sexual intercourse and sexual assault or rape while they are asleep'. It is thought to affect up to 1% of the population worldwide. Drink, drugs, sleep deprivation and stress are all thought to make the condition worse.

Darren, from East London had only just met the 21-year-old when she stayed the night at his house. She awoke to find him touching her. Darren held that he was 'oblivious' to this.

The verdict meant that Darren had no control over his 'sexual' actions and or had any knowledge of groping the girl, as she slept.

Although both a medical expert and the prosecution's expert agreed with this diagnosis, Darren warned real sex attackers not to claim this defence as sexsomnia; 'You will get found out. You cannot just make this up.'
It has been 14 years since the first research paper was published in 1996, by three researchers from the University of Toronto. It suggested sexual behaviour during sleep may be a new type of parasomnia. Since this groundbreaking study, more and more research has been released detailing the condition. However, in order for this to of been helpful, yet accurate, the judiciary and need to be vigilant and prevent the possibility of the floodgates argument persevering and eradicating the credibility of such a new and specialist decision.

Teeline rules finalised

Week 4

Units 16 and 19

62. When 'T' and 'R' are next to one another or have a vowel between them, the 'T' and 'R' strokes are blended together to give one long stroke. The sign is written in the 'T' position if it is the first stroke in a word.

63. Likewise, a lengthened 'D' stroke is used is used when 'D' and 'R' are written together or with a vowel between. This is written in the 'D' position if it is at the beginning of an outline.

64. 'TRN' and 'DRN' -  the double strokes of 'TR' and 'DR' can be blended with 'N'.

65. 'LR' is generally written downwards, but  can be written upwards in certain circumstances, to give a better outline.

66. 'MR' and 'WR' are also quite popular combinations to write.

67. 'WK' and 'WRK' blends - only the second stroke of the 'K' is shown as the first one is written backwards along 'W'. 'WR' and 'K' can be joined by using a long 'WR' stroke (becoming a large 'W')  and adding 'K' in the same way.

68. It is easier to use 'C' than 'K' when joining 'R' or 'D' to 'WK' or 'WRK'.

69. Make sure to check that the size of all of the outlines are correct.

The news agenda

Dissecting the news

The new agenda, otherwise known as the agenda - setting theory, was established by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1972 in their 'ground - breaking' study of the role of the media in a 1968 presidential campaign. The theory explains the correlation between the rate at which the media cover a story and the extent that people think that this story is important. This study shows that the correlation has occurred repeatedly.

Mon 25/10/10
1. David Cameron will discuss at the CBI conference in London, how he will boost growth and create opportunities despite the cuts in the public sector.

2. Britain's privacy watchdog is to look again at what personal information internet giant (where the new jobs will come from)

3. 250 people have died in Haiti after a cholera epidemic.

4. 'Taste receptors' found in the lungs rather than the tongue, could create the production of new medicines helping to treat asthma.

5. Newly leaked secret U.S files suggests that Iraqi forces were maltreating prisoners but failed to take any action.

6. Changes to benefits, means that single mothers may be forced to go back to work when their child reaches seven.

7. ' A camera, set up at a man's bedside because of concerns he was not receiving adequate medical care, has caught an agency nurse

8. Horseracing has been funded, for the past 50 years mainly, by a levy or a tax on bookmakers' profits. The racing authorities and the bookies are supposed to agree on the level of the subsidy. This has not happened.

9. Cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe discusses his work in a new comprehensive book, The Making of Pink Floyd The Wall.

Tues 26/10/10
1. Security chiefs from Whitehall have ordered an increase in police training to prevent a 'mumbai style' terrorist attack occurring in a public place.

2. The latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were released today. The Legatum Institute has named it the 'prosperity index' which attempts to measure our feelings about ourselves as well as performance.

3. This time next week, it will be clear whether Barack Obama's democrats have lost control of congress. It is thought that the majority of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, which are all up for election, will be given to the Republicans.

4. The Fire Brigade's Union are set to strike on the 5th November. Bonfire night is one of the fire services busiest nights and Bob Neil, the fire and rescue services minister, believes they should rethink this plan.

5. The chalk mound in Wiltshire, Silbury Hill, is Europe's largest man-made, pre-historic feature. Jim Leary has wrote a newly published book on some of the long believed assumptions on it.

6. The Government are considering the rules surrounding teaching qualifications should be less strict and so allowing some classes to be taught by people who did not have the necessary training.

7. A 9-foot high Exmoor stag, called the Emperor has been shot. He is reportedly one of the UK's largest wild animals.

8. The Independent are introducing a new newspaper, which is to be smaller, cheaper and more concise than than the existent Independent.

9. Ex MPs heads impaled on spikes is an art installation created by Shelly Wilson. It is said to represent and honour the 150 MPs who stood down at this year's general election.

10. Ann Widdecombe and Alistair Spalding discuss how best to appeal to audiences in terms of family entertainment.

Wednes 27/10/10
1. The Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who took Soviet troops out of Afghanistan, has warned that Nato are unable to cope with the force of the Taliban.

2. Pensions consultant, Malcolm Mclean analyses the government’s review as to whether companies should offer pension schemes.

3. The Audit Commission's last report before its abolition revealed that councils in England found 120,000 cases of fraud last year worth £135 million.

4. The UK are considering adopting a technique used to curb drink-related crime in the USA.

5. Spanish-born chef Ferran Aidra, of El Bulli fame, has been described in a book as changing the way people eat, with his inventive dishes.

6. The government have announced that housing benefits should be capped. However, Shadow Justice Minister, Chris Bryant, says the plans would force 200,000 people to move out of big cities.

7. Lord Black of Crossharbour, former proprietor of the Daily Telegraph who was imprisoned for six and a half years in 2008 for fraud has been released on bail. Google gathered from private Wi-Fi networks turning off his life - support machine.'
 
8. Chairman of British Airways, Martin Broughton, has spoke out about the redundancy of airline passenger checks and that the UK should stop following the security procedures adopted by the US.

9. Author Misha Aster and playwright Sir Ronald Harwood, talks about the musical power and the ambiguity of the 'Reich's Orchestra'.

10. The UN's biodiversity conference in Japan, is looking at the evidence of a decline in the number of species of animals and plants in the world.

11. The Lord of the Rings prequel, the Hobbit, is to be filmed in New Zealand.

12. Oil and gas remaining in the North sea is difficult and expensive to extract.

13. Should estate agents change the language used when trying to sell properties?