Category / Read / Law and ethics

FeatureOn the frontiers of human rights and technology, Julia Belluz writes in the Ryerson Review of Journalism, outspoken nerds fight to free the flow of information on the web.

FeatureRomanian readers want their news to be fun — and soaked in scandal, Arwen Kidd reports from Bucharest in the King’s Journalism Review.

FeatureWas John DeMings’ demotion a blow for press freedom in the town of Digby, N.S., or simply a management shuffle to improve efficiency? As Paul McLeod writes in the King’s Journalism Review, it depends who you ask.

FeatureDespite a Senate committee’s renewed warning of the perils of media concentration, Jessica McDiarmid reports in the King’s Journalism Review, Ottawa is doing nothing to curb the loss of voices — and the threat to freedom of the press.

BackgrounderYou can’t print that … or can you? Copyright law gives writers and artists control over how their works and used, but there are exceptions for publishing excerpts and using material in the classroom. Find out more.

NewsDatabases compiled by newspapers and other publishers cannot reproduce freelance work without the agreement of writers, photographers and illustrators, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in October 2006. It is a partial victory for writer Heather Robertson, who launched a class action suit in 1996 against The Globe and Mail and its then-owner – Thomson…

NewsAn Alberta judge has refused to force the CBC to disclose documents that would identify confidential sources to Edmonton’s former chief of police, who’s suing the network for defamation over a televised report alleging he engaged in sexual relations and unlawful conduct with prostitutes. In a November 2005 ruling, Justice Vital Ouellette of Alberta’s Court…

BackgrounderSection 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.” A primer on how the courts have interpreted these rights and what they mean for journalists.

BackgrounderKenneth Singer, a Vancouver media law specialist, reviews the limits on media access to court files.

CommentaryDo Canada’s privacy laws prevent the unauthorized use of celebrities’ names and images? The law is unclear, but lawyer and journalist Mitchell Flagg argues in this commentary that Canada’s courts should reject the American approach and deny celebrities a monopoly over how they are depicted in public.