This companion website is being continually updated to support the publication of the UK Media Law Pocketbook Second Edition for 30th November 2022. The companion website pages and resources for the printed book (Chapters 1 to 11) are complete, though are being added to as new developments in case law, legislation, regulation and professional ethics occur. Chapter 20 ‘New Developments in Media Law’ contains all new additions and developments for all the chapers. The content and multimedia resources for the additional online chapters 13 to 19 are complete and are also being added to with new developments in media law.
If you are reading and accessing this publication as an e-book such as on the VitalSource platform, please be advised that it is Routledge policy for clickthrough to reach the home page only. However, copying and pasting the url into the address bar of a separate page on your browser usually reaches the full YouTube, Soundcloud and online links.
The companion website pages will contain all of the printed and e-book’s links with accurate click-through and copy and paste properties. Best endeavours will be made to audit, correct and update the links every six months.
The online introduction explains the mission of the book which is hybrid production of printed text covering the first eleven core chapters combined with a multimedia online companion website and nine further online chapters.
The principal aim is to offer a concise, short, and clear quick guide to media law affecting anyone working in the UK. The website enables the book to update an unstable and quickly changing area of the law with text, and sound podcasts and video-casts.
It is designed for people who work in traditional print, broadcast or online multi-media and is powerfully embedded with direct links to more information and key sources.
The subject is explained by way of a two stream structure of Primary media law- legislation and case law (ruling by courts) in this country and also the European Court of Human Rights based at Strasbourg, and Secondary media law- statutory and independent self-regulation of broadcasting, print and online publishers.
The introduction signposts the significance of journalism now operating in the digital and online dimension with multimedia production and interacting with all forms of social media. Since the first edition there have been significant developments in defamation and privacy law and the COVID pandemic which presented new challenges to report court cases by way of remote hearing access. Recommendations are made for further reading of the subject.
The introduction explains the legalised nature of professional media research, information gathering and publication, and the consequences of making mistakes in terms of criminal prosecution, civil litigation, disciplinary action by employers, regulatory reprimand, fines, suspension and cancellation of broadcasting licences.
There is also discussion of the impact of the 2013 Defamation Act, developments in privacy law, the consequences of the 2012 Leveson Inquiry and the crisis in the journalism industry and profession with substantial drops in income due the growing dominance of Big Tech advertising.
Local weekly, regional daily and national newspaper circulations continue to shrink with the transfer to digital and online publication not wholly providing a substitute business model which is viable.
Local and regional government coverage is now being made possible through the BBC funded local democracy scheme. Closure of court complexes, increased incidence of unchallenged reporting restrictions and secret hearings with fewer professional reporters able to cover court cases means there has been a substantial reduction in Open Justice.
The COVID pandemic of 2020-22 generated new opportunities for remote coverage of court hearings. Covering court hearings remotely has consequently become a standard option to reporting by physical presence in court. However, when news publishers and others have failed to follow the legal restrictions on access and reporting, there have been case histories of prosecution and admonition.
Chapter 1 – Media contempt and reporting crime
Chapter 2 – Guide to Court Reporting- Key facts and check-list
Chapter 3 – Libel, Privacy, Accuracy and Balance
Chapter 4 – News Gathering, Story Finding and Public Interest
Chapter 5 – Protecting Children
Chapter 6 – Copyright and Intellectual Property
Chapter 7 – Laws and rules for elections and politics
Chapter 9 – Scottish and Northern Irish differences and issues
Chapter 10 – Freedom of Information
Chapter 12 Links to further online chapters
Chapter 13 Reporting Local Government and access to meetings
Chapter 14 Covering Inquests (and Fatal Accident Inquiries in Scotland)
Chapter 15 Covering Public Inquiries
Chapter 16 Reporting Courts Martial
Chapter 17 Reporting the Family Courts
Chapter 18 Media Law of British Isles jurisdictions of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands
Chapter 19 Data Protection Law for Journalists.
Tim Crook profile
Professor Tim Crook
BA Hum BA Open LLB LLM PhD, FHEA MCIJ PG Dip Law PG Cert Law
Dip Lit Dip Eur Hum Cert Rad Journ (LCP) OWC
Emeritus Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London. Founded and convened MA Radio 1992 to 2020. Now consultant for Media Law & Ethics and radio teaching, and historian for Goldsmiths, University of London. See Goldsmiths History Project. President of the Chartered Institute of Journalists 2020-22 and recipient of BJTC Special Recognition Award for services to journalism and journalism training 2019.
Previously Visiting Professor of Broadcast Journalism, Faculty of Performance, Media & English, Birmingham City University (Appointed January 2013).
Author of: International Radio Journalism (1997), Radio Drama (1999), Comparative Media Law & Ethics (First Edition 2009, 2nd Edition 2023), The Secret Lives of a Secret Agent (First Edition 2010, 2nd Edition 2018), The Sound Handbook (2011), Audio Drama Modernism: The Missing Link between Descriptive Phonograph Sketches and Microphone Plays on the Radio (2020) and Writing Audio Drama (2023)
Copyright and Warning Disclaimer
The content of this companion website only amounts to educational material and does not constitute legal advice to any general, specific or particular situation. Nor does reading anything on this site constitute any form of legal contract for legal service between the author and reader. Should you be facing any legal action for media publication, you should seek immediate qualified legal advice in your relevant legal jurisdiction. The content is copyright/Intellectual Property protected. The author grants a limited and restricted licence to digitally download, copy, print and quote to any extent for the purposes of education and media/journalism training only and provided that the educational institution, or private individual has purchased a copy of the printed or electronic version of the book UK Media Law Pocketbook, Second Edition published by Routledge in 2022. Any quotation or use of the material for any purpose from this site needs to be academically attributed and acknowledged. The media law of the United Kingdom is a constantly changing and moving phenomenon. The author provides no guarantee that the site’s content is immediately up to date with changes and developments, though he tries to achieve this as soon as possible. The author bears no responsibility whatsoever for the content of Internet websites linked anywhere on these pages. Please bear in mind that the producers of linked web hostings are often changing or deleting URLs that can result in broken or out of date links. As already indicated best endeavours will be made to update and correct broken links on the companion website pages.
INTRODUCTION
Online link Printed Page 1 Introduction
A downloadable sound file on the introduction that seeks to explain the purpose and mission of the book. https://soundcloud.com/comparativemedialaw/introduction-uk-media-law-pocket-book-2nd-edition-2022
Page 2
Please understand that, beyond my control, online sites can change their links without notice. I will do my best to update these and new developments of UK Media Law via the companion website at https://ukmedialawpocketbook.com/2021/12/02/new-developments-in-uk-media-law/
This book is intended to be a concise, short, and clear quick guide to media law affecting anyone working in the UK. It comes with a companion website that updates an unstable and quickly changing area of the law and includes sound podcasts and video-casts. It is designed for people who work in traditional print, broadcast or online multi-media. There are direct links to more information and key sources.
You need to know about—
Primary media law: That’s legislation and case law (ruling by courts) in this country and also the European Court of Human Rights based at Strasbourg. If you transgress these, it can result in criminal prosecution and penalties (fine and/or imprisonment) and/or civil litigation (potentially resulting in astronomical legal costs and damages). Although the UK left the European Union, many laws created as a result of EU directives, regulations and rulings of the European Court of Justice prior to Brexit are still in existence and engaged as a result of UK statute and case law.
Then there is:
Secondary media law: ‘ethics’ and regulation.
If you breach these ‘professional standards’ you might find yourself subject to disciplinary warnings or dismissal from work (particularly where your duty to comply with a professional ethics code is written into your employment contract) and/or fines, suspension or removal of broadcast licences, and damaging public adjudications for your employer publisher.
Primary and secondary media law overlap. Sometimes it is different if you are working in broadcasting (BBC or independent broadcasting), and print/online. In UK broadcasting obeying statutory regulatory law is known as ‘compliance’. This means that the working broadcaster has to deal with two levels of quite stringent control. The BBC is the biggest employer of journalists in the UK and they have the advantage of being supervised by a team of specialist lawyers in ‘Programme Legal Advice’. BBC journalists and independent production companies working for it also have to follow BBC ‘Editorial Guidelines’ as well as the statutory duties imposed by Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. The BBC has an editorial complaints infrastructure operated by the BBC Board that is independent from Ofcom and carries out its own enquiries and publishes its own adjudications. This means it is possible for the BBC and Ofcom to investigate and adjudicate the same programmes, complaints and issues.
Journalism ethics are a key part of secondary media law because section 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998 gives the courts the power to take into account journalistic codes of ethics when balancing legal disputes involving Article 10 Freedom of Expression and Article 8 Privacy.
For those journalists working outside broadcasting secondary media law is derived from the rulings of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, for print and online media, and the case law and guidance of its predecessor body The Press Complaints Commission (PCC). This is still industry self-regulation though publishers contracting in can be fined for breaches of the Editor’s Code and compelled to publish corrections. IPSO has begun an arbitration scheme for media law disputes where claimants can pay a fee that is capped at £100 and potentially achieve damages of up to £60,000 and recover costs up to £25,000. The Guardian and Observer, Independent online, London Evening Standard, and Financial Times are significant publishers who have not yet agreed to be regulated by any external body. The Royal Charter on the Press, established after the Leveson Inquiry Report of 2012, set up a Press Recognition Panel that in late 2016 approved IMPRESS as an independent ‘Leveson compliant’ regulator of print and online media. IMPRESS regulates a growing number of local and hyperlocal news providers not owned by any of the major regional publishers.
There is another regulator that needs recognition in the UK media law landscape. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates the Data Protection Acts- the most recent being in 2018 which legislated for the EU’s GDPR General Data Protection Regulation, and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The ICO is in the process of finalising a statutory code for journalists and it is anticipated that the ICO could prove to become a more interventionalist regulator of journalist conduct and publication.
In particular, if you process digital information about other individuals for journalistic purposes your employing publisher or you yourself as a freelance may be obliged to register under the Data Protection Act 2018. You can find out if you are exempt by carrying out an online registration self-assessment.
Most freelance journalists and small publishers would be classified as ‘Micro-organisations’ with an annual registration fee as at 2021 of £40. This is for businesses with a maximum turnover of £632,000 in one financial year or no more than 10 employees. Registered data processing journalists have legal obligations to protect personal data with password protection practices. The ICO has also certainly shown willingness to intervene with a media production process in a hospital involving mothers at risk of stillbirth. This involved the use of remote cameras. The producers and doctors thought they had covered the issue of consent through warning notices and written consent prior to broadcast. An initial fine of £120,000 was reduced by a Tribunal to £18,000. New legislation means the ICO needs the permission of a court before it can impose a monetary penalty notice in these circumstances.
It is still my belief that professional media practice and journalism in the UK has become significantly ‘legalized’ in the sense that so much conduct and content requires supervision, advice and permission from lawyers and then the issue of whether it has transgressed primary and secondary media law is decided by state officials in the form of prosecutors and judges. Journalism is being codified and defined by state legislature, executive and judiciary as to what is permissible so long as it fulfils the criteria of being ‘responsible’. Everything else is potentially ‘irresponsible’ and therefore unlawful.
In the larger broadcast media organizations in-house lawyers participate in editorial meetings and are present during editing and live transmission. They have a permanent role in the editorial infrastructure.
Since so much of what a journalist and a professional media communicator does is in legal jeopardy, my advice would be to ensure that you individually have a documentary and evidential trail of permission, direction and agreement to your conduct and content creation. Keep copious notes, all emails and digital messages, and file these separately from your work computer systems.
Make sure these are password protected and where possible additionally encrypted so that you can demonstrate you have taken all reasonable and professional steps to protect what would be regarded as private information about other people.
Do whatever you can to be as well informed about media law and regulation so you can argue your case and press for the best exercise of professional freedom of expression possible in keeping with your conscience.
If you are freelance, a single author publisher, or part of a smaller media outlet with limited resources, you are entitled to feel that your situation is somewhat perilous. Care, caution and a risk averse attitude is often the best means of survival. This could be described as defensive journalism. The UK’s National Union of Journalists works with an insurance company to provide ‘Professional Indemnity Insurance’ policies for freelance writers and photographers.
| It is certainly advisable to join professional unions such as the NUJ, Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ), and the British Association of Journalists (BAJ) . They provide legal services for their members and the CIoJ has begun providing annual media law and regulation update courses for their members. |
Bear in mind that if you are sent abroad to carry out reporting and media news gathering you are likely to be subject to the law relating to the foreign jurisdiction you are operating in. In order to research how these laws may apply to you the book International Libel & Privacy Handbook, edited by Charles J. Glasser Jr., with 3rd edition published in 2013 by Bloomberg Press, USA, could be a useful reference point. A simple explanation for why care needs to be taken is that recording research conversations on your phone without telling the other side, even for note-taking purposes, is a criminal offence in Germany, but not so in the UK. Even in the USA with its constitutional First Amendment, there are 11 states, namely California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington, that require all parties to consent when one party wants to record a telephone conversation.
Your assignment may involve covering a story that intersects with other legal jurisdictions. For example, the alleged murderer of an English university student in New Zealand may have legal anonymity in the trial process in that country. You will need advice on whether your reporting in the UK, and indeed globally online, needs to comply with New Zealand media law. This issue relates to the trial of Jesse Kempson for murdering Grace Millane. He was convicted and jailed in late 2019, but the New Zealand legal system wished to maintain his anonymity to enable a following trial for raping another woman and preventing that case being prejudiced. The question of whether media laws in commonwealth countries such as New Zealand, Australia, UK and Canada should be coordinated to achieve compliance has been discussed by media lawyer Erica Henshilwood.
This second edition covers the impact of The 2013 Defamation Act which has codified many aspects of libel law, developments in privacy law, and other significant case law and legislative developments.
We need to take into account a sense of crisis in the journalism industry with substantial drops in advertising income and employment due the growing dominance of Big Tech advertising.
Local weekly, regional daily and national newspaper circulations continue to shrink with the transfer to digital and online publication not wholly providing a substitute and viable business model. This is being bravely challenged by investment in digital multimedia reporters working for online news sites, entrepreneurial micro and local publisher start-ups, and the hope that registration, membership, and subscription may provide a cost covering and profitable model for the future.
Local and regional government coverage is now being made possible through the BBC funded local democracy scheme. Closure of court complexes, increased incidence of unchallenged reporting restrictions and secret hearings with fewer professional reporters able to cover court hearings means there has been a substantial reduction in Open Justice.
The COVID pandemic of 2020-21 has also created new challenges and opportunities for remote coverage of court hearings. When news publishers and others have failed to follow the legal restrictions on access and reporting, there have been case histories of prosecution and admonition.
Please understand that online sites beyond my control can change their links without notice. I will do my best to update these and new developments of UK Media Law via the companion website at https://ukmedialawpocketbook.com/2021/08/06/new-developments-in-uk-media-law/
I have total respect for the authors of all other media law books available to students and practitioners. For more detail on the subject I make these recommendations for additional reading and follow-up:
The latest editions of:
McNae’s Essential Law For Journalists, 26th Edition 2022, edited by Sian Harrison and Mark Hanna, Oxford University Press. McNae’s is now co-edited by Sian Harrison with Mark Hanna following the retirement of Mike Dodd. The 2024 edition will be co-edited by Sian Harrison and Gill Phillips.
Media & Entertainment Law by Ursula Smartt, 5th Edition 2022, Routledge.
Law for Journalists: A Guide to Media Law by Frances Quinn, 6th Edition 2018, Pearson.
Comparative Media Law and Ethics by Tim Crook, 1st Edition 2009, Routledge [New edition planned for 2023-4].
The Editors’ Codebook, edited by Jonathan Grun, Latest edition 2023, an electronic book downloadable from https://www.editorscode.org.uk/downloads/codebook/codebook-2023.pdf
By commission from the UK Broadcast Journalism Training Council, the author Professor Tim Crook produces a BJTC Media Law Regulation and Ethics Handbook, updated which acts as an additional companion for the UK Media Law Pocketbook.
The latest pdf edition file for end of September 2023 is downloadable here.
This electronic book will be updated between editions so do please revisit and obtain the latest version. The most recent version will be dated in the pdf file name and this is currently for 15th October 2023.
It is provided by Creative Commons license with the conditions that users buy a copy of the published book UK Media Law Pocketbook and always attribute and credit should it be quoted or used in teaching or training as well as reporting for ALCS survey.
Secondary Media Law Codes and Guidelines
IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice in one page pdf document format https://www.ipso.co.uk/media/2032/ecop-2021-ipso-version-pdf.pdf
The Editors’ Codebook 144 pages pdf booklet 2023 edition https://www.editorscode.org.uk/downloads/codebook/codebook-2023.pdf
IMPRESS Standards Guidance and Code 72 page 2023 edition https://www.impress.press/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impress-Standards-Code.pdf
Ofcom Broadcasting Code Applicable from 1st January 2021 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code Guidance briefings at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/information-for-industry/guidance/programme-guidance
BBC Editorial Guidelines 2019 edition 220 page pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/pdfs/bbc-editorial-guidelines-whole-document.pdf Online https://www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines/guidelines
Office of Information Commissioner (ICO) Data Protection and Journalism Code of Practice 2023 41 page pdf https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/4025760/data-protection-and-journalism-code-202307.pdf and the accompanying reference notes or guidance 47 page pdf https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/4025761/data-protection-and-journalism-code-reference-notes-202307.pdf
The Second Edition of the UK Media Law Pocketbook has been published 30th November 2022 ISBN 9781138309166 224 Pages
Available for order on this link.
PDF file Media Law briefings issued following printed book’s publication providing updates and new developments in UK Media Law
Artificial Intelligence and Media Law- the implications of ChatGPT and other systems of replicating human communications production robotically 30th April 2023 (Updated 26th August 2023)
Police investigation into finances of the SNP, contempt of court, and the applicability of UK Supreme Court ruling in ZXC on reasonable expectation of privacy for crime suspects
News Group Newspapers for the Sun successfully defends privacy action to enable them to illustrate their investigation into a couple making substantial profits selling PPE to the government during the COVID pandemic.
Ethical representation of the identity of transgender defendants and other participants in court reporting
The Right To Be Forgotten in Journalism archives- The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber on 4th July 2023 in Hurbain v Belgium is nothing short of a disaster for professional journalism and historians.
High Court judge stops high profile defamation action and criticises the claimant saying ‘witness statements in litigation are not to be used for settling scores or advancing some wider agenda.’ (Court ruling 7th June 2023)
On 6th July 2023 the ICO finalised and submitted the ICO Journalism Code of Practice to the Government and Parliament for approval and implementation by statutory instrument.
High Court Judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice developed new legal ground in protecting the anonymity of crime suspects on 29th June 2023 by imposing an injunction against the BBC which prevents identification of a high national and international public profile person, referred to as WFZ, who is under active criminal investigation for serious criminal sexual offences.
Jeremy Clarkson apologised for the content of his Sun column denigrating the Duchess of Suffolk, Meghan Markle, and the newspaper withdrew the article from publication and also apologised. Yet the UK’s press self-regulatory body IPSO decided to investigate third party complaints from The Fawcett Society and The WILDE Foundation and adjudicated against the Sun on the ground of discrimination in clause 12 of the Editors’ Code on press standards.
Judge rules governor needs to reconsider request by Life prisoner to be phone interviewed by investigative journalist podcaster in England and Wales High Court judicial review- 16th June 2023
Managing the placement of students to experience court reporting- some advice and resources.
Lucy Letby trial and Open Justice- explaining the restrictions and their implications for the English and Welsh Criminal Justice system. 29th August 2023.
Why the Freedom of Information Act and Tribunal system is failing historians and journalists. Failure of UK courts and Information Commissioner to implement Strasbourg law. (Updated 26th August 2023)
The Appeal Court rules High Court can review bulk collection of journalists’ data by UK law enforcement in 2016 Investigatory Powers Act. But at the same time the review will not include use of other secret powers of surveillance in respect of journalists’ confidential information and sources. 30th August 2023.
Highly significant European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber ruling extending and strengthening Article 10 Protection of Journalists’ sources to the sources themselves when they act in the role of ‘good faith’ whistleblowers with public interest disclosure.
Microsoft Word – TelevisionCourtsinEnglandandWalesMediaLawBriefing.docx
Televising the courts in England and Wales. One year on after allowing broadcasting of sentencing in the Crown Court.
On 27th July 2023 a key member of the Royal Family lost part of an action in media law against a UK national newspaper organisation, which is something of a rare phenomenon. The Duke of Sussex, more commonly known as ‘Prince Harry’ was unsuccessful is pursuing litigation on phone hacking against News Group Newspapers, the publishers of the Sun newspaper.
New legislation in Northern Ireland passed which makes it a criminal offence to report anything leading to the identification of persons suspected of sexual offences prior to charge. This legislation came into force 28th September 2023
Reviving common law media contempt- Attorney-General’s intervention in the Russell Brand scandal 30th September 2023
A former SAS soldier has lost a judicial review bid over a challenge to ban him from publishing a book about his counter-terrorism actions in Nairobi Kenya which earned him a bravery award. 6th October 2023.
Significant and successful appeal by Family Law journalist achieving reporting rights. 12th October 2023.
UK Media Law Pocketbook Second Edition 