Category / Law and ethics

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

AnalysisQuebec has some of the strongest privacy laws in the western world. CBC lawyer Marie-Philippe Bouchard examines two court rulings that punished Quebec media outlets for publishing photographs of individuals.

AnalysisVancouver lawyer Daniel Burnett reviews the law in four provinces with statutes that protect personal privacy.