NewsBritain’s House of Lords has refused to review a landmark ruling that has been criticized for protecting privacy at the expense of free expression — and could restrict how journalists cover celebrities and public figures. The March 30, 2007 decision endorses a lower court’s finding that a former friend of Loreena McKennitt breached the Canadian…
“In the last year, the trends reshaping journalism didn’t just quicken, they seemed to be nearing a pivot point,” according to the 2007 edition of the annually anticipated report on US news media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).
This Concordia journalism department is currently tackling the subject of climate change and have named their school’s blog “Tempest.”
In 2007, Event is hostingits 20th Annual Creative Non-Fiction Contest, for which three winners will each receive $500 plus payment for publication in an upcoming issue of Event Magazine. Deadline for submissions is April 16.
AnalysisRoger McConchie, a Vancouver lawyer who specializes in libel and privacy issues, has compiled detailed summaries of Canadian court rulings on Internet libel.
Book ReviewJoseph Howe, the courageous editor of the Novascotian, has long been the poster-boy for freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Canada. His exposes of government corruption in Halifax in 1835, his prosecution on a trumped-up libel charge, the eloquent six-hour speech that won his acquittal – these are the stuff of…
AnalysisAvoiding a defamation suit can be a tricky business. But a series of rulings, including an influential precedent from Britain’s House of Lords, promises to give the Canadian media more leeway to publish or broadcast serious allegations — even unproven ones — in the public interest. The best defence may be good, solid journalism. By…
NewsThe Toronto Star is appealing a northern Ontario jury’s $1.475 million libel award –one of the highest in Canadian history – over an article describing a wealthy local businessman’s plans to expand his personal lakeside golf course. The Star argues the June 2001 article should be protected by the defence of “qualified privilege,” which gives…
FeatureWhen a Toronto broker sues a national newspaper for libel, no one leaves the room smiling. Mary Findlater explores the case of Mark McQueen versus the National Post in the Ryerson Review of Journalism.
CommentaryThe Supreme Court of Canada has denied leave to appeal from the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in the case of Bangoura v. Washington Post. The decision finally decides that Bangoura’s Internet-libel claim cannot proceed in Ontario and cements an important precedent against libel-tourism in Ontario. The Washington Post‘s lawyers, Paul Schabas and Ryder Gilliland,…