Prosecuting and jailing citizens for defamatory libel smacks of show trials we’d expect from countries such as Russia and China, says media lawyer and Law Times columnist Alan Shanoff. Yet the archaic law remains on the books and was recently used to imprison an Ottawa restaurant owner for publishing false material concerning an online restaurant…
Alberta Provincial Court Judge Sean Dunnigan does something very unusual for a judge. He talks in public. Geoff Ellwand explains.
Media lawyer Daniel Henry was honoured with the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression 2012 Vox Libera award. In his acceptance speech, he called for journalists to keep pressing for camera access in court, saying that when journalists – and by virtue, the public – are denied access to courts electronically it is, quite simply, not good enough.
Reporters now have any variety of new technology at their fingertips when reporting from the courts, but when it comes to court process itself, they find themselves fighting the same old battles for exhibits, seats and access to lawyers and judges. Eric Mark Do reports from a panel discussion on court reporting held at Ryerson University.
When the police want your photographs, should you comply? Jared Gnam looks at the ethical and legal issues surrounding a recent court order that saw six news organizations hand over their photographs and video to police to aid in the investigation of the 2011 Vancouver riot for the Langara Journalism Review.
For Internet users accustomed to posting, linking, tweeting, pinning, or otherwise communicating the news of the day online, they can breathe a sigh of relief as a recent decision from the Federal Court of Canada sends a strong signal that such activities fall within the law.
The Federal Court of Canada's ruling involving a website that linked to a National Post column and a photographer's website is seen as good news for those who ink to news, according to law professor Michael Geist. In his column in today's Star, linked here, of course, he describes how by dismissing the claims against…
Danny Henry, senior legal counsel at CBC and a noted advocate for press freedom in Canada, will be leaving his job with the broadcaster after being issued a redundancy notice, sources say.
A visit from the bailiff indicating you face a potential lawsuit for something your story linked to: Not exactly the best day in a student press newsroom. Emma Godmere, national bureau chief of Canadian University Press, explains what happened when she recently faced this situation and how lopsided legal battles such as a student newspaper…
Allowing cameras in the courtrooms of criminal trials have some journalists saying it’s a threat to their livelihood. But as Alexandra Posadzki reports, it could also be used as a tool to increase public interest in court stories, and even create more demand for reporters in this field.