Category / Read / Law and ethics

FeatureThe rapid rise of amateur commentators mounting the soapbox of Internet blogs has led to a small, but growing number of online libel cases. Shannon Proudfoot, CanWest News Service, reports.

NewsThere will be no sweeping publication ban on the first-degree murder trial of Robert Pickton, even though the accused serial killer could face a second trial at a later date. A British Columbia judge made the ruling Dec. 14, 2006, after lawyers for news organizations argued a ban would effectively mean one of the biggest…

NewsTelevision cameras are generally barred from Ontario’s courtrooms, but an August 2006 report recommends partial lifting of the ban. “Our justice system is ready for its close-up,” says Attorney General Michael Bryant, who endorses the recommendation and believes cameras will eventually be permitted in courtrooms across Canada. CBC News reports. The recommendation is one of…

BackgrounderThe Internet has changed the landscape of Canadian media law, but the rules that govern what appears in the traditonal media also apply online. A primer on defamation law, publication bans and copyright on the Internet, as well as the restrictions on accessing child pornography.

CommentaryCanadian Internet service providers need protection from libel suits sparked by web postings, argues Internet law expert Michael Geist.

FeatureExperts says reporters sensationalize youth crime and contribute to the public misconception that teens are increasingly violent and out of control. Stephanie Cameron checks the facts behind the headlines in the King’s Journalism Review.

CommentaryCanadian news outlets, however unknowingly, helped smear Maher Arar’s reputation. The editor-in-chief of CBC News says the case highlights why journalists should be wary of using anonymous sources. By Tony Burman. Posted Oct. 3, 2006.

FeatureMuslim outrage over published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed has fueled a debate in Canada on what constitutes freedom of speech. Marlene Rego reports in the Ryerson Review of Journalism.

CommentaryIn a nation that preaches the virtues of democracy, the United States government has consistently eroded the media’s ability to report — undermining the ideals it professes to uphold. Lawyer and law professor William Bennett Turner comments in the San Francisco Chronicle.

NewsThe Montreal Gazette and two other Quebec media outlets won access in December 2006 to the financial information of a businessman at the centre of a major lawsuit. The Gazette‘s Mike King reports.