Category / Law and ethics

NewsToronto (June 28, 2007) — A judge has ruled that Toronto author and journalist Derek Finkle does not have to turn over research materials accumulated in writing No Claim To Mercy, his book…

FeatureToronto’s streets aren’t “nighttime killing fields” — but it’s easy to say they are. Chris Richardson of the Ryerson Review of Journalism explores the challenges of covering the city’s most notorious neighbourhood.

FeatureGlobe and Mail justice reporter Kirk Makin likens maintaining a beat to tending a garden. “There’s only a certain period where there’s fruit in the trees,” he says, “but you have to…

CommentaryA libel suit filed against Mumsnet, a community website where women offer one another advice, support and friendship, underlines the need for a libel law that reflects the reality of publishing online.…

FeatureFaced with the challenge of reporting on the graphic evidence presented at the murder trial of Robert Pickton, editors struggled to decide how much was too much. What do audiences want, and…

NewsEdmonton (June 7, 2007) — An Alberta judge has ruled that mandatory bans on publishing evidence presented at bail hearings are unconstitutional. The federal government has a year to change the law…

NewsOttawa (June 21, 2007) — The Supreme Court of Canada won’t review a ruling that prevents people whose identities are protected by publication bans from coming forward on their own. But media…

NewsToronto (August 13, 2007) — The murders of Somali journalists Ali Sharmarke and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, of the radio network HornAfrik, are a blow to press freedom in Somalia and a great…

Commentary Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, one of the world’s richest men, has made an academic publisher withdraw a controversial book. But it is the UK libel system that allows the rich and…

CommentaryThe principal legacy of disgraced media mogul Conrad Black, convicted in July of fraud and obstruction of justice, is “libel chill,” writes Toronto Star business columnist David Olive. For decades he used…