Law
CBC journalist Harvey Cashore called December 22 "the most important day in the history of media law" at a Toronto event debating the Supreme Court decision that created a new libel defence. Ted Fairhurst reports.British Columbia’s attorney general promises sweeping changes to make the province’s courts more open in the wake of a Victoria Times Colonist investigation that exposed inconsistent access practices at courthouse registries. Mike de Jong says an outdated policy that authorizes clerks to withhold an entire file when a publication ban protects a name or other information will be scrapped and new access rules will have a “presumption in favour of releasing information.” Read the Times Colonist report.
The Victoria Times Colonist has published a four-day series exposing glaring inconsistencies in public access to court records at British Columbia courthouses. Some court officials cited a legally flawed, 16-year-old policy similar to one discredited and abandoned in Ontario last year that allows them to withhold files if there is a publication ban on a name or other information. Times Colonist reporters also had difficulty locating and obtaining records of completed police searches. Read the first days stories, with links to follow up articles and editorial comment.
Commentary: "Justice can't exist hidden behind secrecy"
The new defence of responsible communication is good news for the media, but Ryerson University's Jeffrey A. Dvorkin doubts it will usher in a new wave investigative journalism. As layoffs continue and newsrooms are pared down to the editorial bone, the ability of news organizations to engage in deep, contextual investigative journalism is far from what it once was, or what it should be.And lawyer Alan Shanoff, who teaches media law at Humber College, cautions the devil will be in the details as judges and juries apply the court's broad definitions of public interest and responsible journalism to stories targetted with libel suits. Read Shanoff's columns in The Law Times and the Toronto Sun.
Law
Edited by Thomas Rose
The Law Section is a clearinghouse for news, information, advice and commentary on matters of law of importance to journalists and to anyone with a passion or just a curiosity about the issues of our times.
Thomas Rose lectures in law and journalism at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research interests include journalism and democracy, international criminal law, and freedom of expression.
Thomas has published in various peer-reviewed academic journals and has an LL.M in International Law from Leiden University and a Masters in Studies of Law from Yale Law School. He is also an award winning journalist. Thomas has worked in public and private media for more than two decades as a Reporter, Senior Producer, Executive Producer, and Project Manager on national, regional and international multi-media projects. His work has taken him to Ghana, Italy, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. From 2006-2010 Thomas provided commentary and analysis on global affairs and legal issues for CBC online.
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Thank you, Thomas, I'll check it out.
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