Media Law for Journalists

Ursula Smartt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000179163
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Journalisme

This book is both an introductory text and reference guide to the main issues facing journalists today, including social media, fake news, and regulators. The text covers the law of the United Kingdom – including Scots and Northern Irish devolved legislation – as well as human rights and EU laws.

This book covers essential areas such as: privacy, confidentiality, freedom of expression and media freedom, defamation, contempt of court, regulation of the print press and broadcast regulation as well as discussions on fake news and how to regulate online harm. There is a section on intellectual property law, covering mainly copyright. Court reporting and how to report on children, young people and victims of sexual offences receive particular attention in this book with relevant cases in user-friendly format. The engaging writing style is aimed to enthuse students, practitioners and lecturers with plenty of examination and practice materials. The text is packed with extensive learning aids including case studies, boxed notes, sample examination questions, appendices of statutes and cases and a glossary.

It is intended as a complete course textbook for students and teachers of journalism, media, communications and PR courses, focusing on diploma courses, NCTJ examinations and broadcast journalism courses such as the BJTC. The book's international focus would also make it ideal reading for journalists from across the world who are working in the UK. The book presumes no prior legal knowledge.

Chapter 1

The legal systems in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

1.1Chapter overview: aims and learning outcomes

1.2Introduction

1.3The UK Constitution and sources of law

1.4Criminal and civil justice

1.5Court hierarchy and key personnel

1.6Scottish and Northern Irish courts

1.7European Union law

1.8Table of key cases

1.9Questions and tasks

1.10Taking it further

1.1 Chapter overview: aims and learning outcomes

To enable you to understand the main principles of British constitutionalism, the laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and European Union Law and the composition of all legal institutions. The chapter introduces you to the English and European Union (EU) legal systems so that you have a good grounding in basic legal principles and sources of law.

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

●clarify the supremacy of the UK Parliament;

●appreciate the difference between civil and criminal court procedures;

●demonstrate a sound knowledge and appreciation of the English and Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and EU legal systems;

●give details of the English, Scottish and Northern Irish court structures;

●understand and explain how EU law interacts with the laws of the United Kingdom.

1.2 Introduction

The main aim of this first chapter is to promote greater understanding of the English justice system as a whole. You will learn to understand how the civil and criminal laws operate in practice by looking at the various agencies and key personnel involved in the civil and criminal processes, such as Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The criminal process is probably the most interesting to readers of the popular press. Next in line in the popularity stakes might be a defamation action (such as a libel case) heard in the High Court, followed by reporting of an industrial action in an employment tribunal (ET) or in a coroners’ court of a sudden and unexplained death. The law in Wales is the same as that in England and so is referred to here as ‘English law’. However, the law in Scotland differs considerably in some respects from that in England and Wales and at times court procedures and defamation actions are different in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. This will be pointed out to you throughout this book where necessary.

This chapter introduces you to English and European legislation and the various courts and legal institutions involved. It presents the basic rules regarding the UK Parliament, sources of law and the court structure (civil and criminal). It is important not to confuse human rights (Convention) law with the laws of the European Union (EU); neither must the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg be confused with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg. Human rights law and EU law are strictly separate and so are the courts.

See Chapter 2.4

1.3 The UK Constitution and sources of law

A constitution is a set of rules that govern an organisation. Sir Ivor Jennings (1903–1965), one of the most prominent constitutional law scholars, described a constitution as a ‘document in which are set out the rules governing the composition, powers and methods of operation of the main institutions of Government, and the general principles applicable to their relations to the citizens’ (Sir Ivor Jennings, The Law and the Constitution, 1959).

It is not totally true that the British Constitution is completely unwritten – as some might argue. It is more correct to say that the UK Constitution is uncodified, unlike most continental European and the American constitutions which are written down. The British Constitution is made up of a number of written (legal) and non-legal documents, adopted at various points in its political history, a primary example being Magna Carta 1215. It is, however, true that there is not one single written document, such as the South African, French, American or German constitutions. The British Constitution has long been considered ‘entrenched’ by tradition and history. King John’s Magna Carta 1215 guaranteed to all free men immunity from illegal imprisonment, for example. Of particular interest to journalists is Art. 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689 which provides ‘freedom of speech’, particularly in relation to proceedings in parliament.

Sources of the UK Constitution

●custom

●common law (‘judge-made’ or ‘case law’)

●Acts of Parliament (‘statutes’ or ‘legislation’)

●European Union law (EU)

●Conventions

●Legal writers of authority.

There are two types of custom law – national and local; these are generally not written down and a party to a legal dispute is alleging that they have the right to do something by virtue of custom.

Common law goes back to 1066 when William the Conqueror of Normandy invaded England. Judges at that time would hear and decide cases according to local custom.

A process then evolved whereby the best legal practice would be recorded and written down. This was then the beginning of the development known as ‘common to all’ or common law. Common law is an important source of UK law today compared with continental European law which is a codified system, such as the French Civil Code or Polish Criminal Code. Common law tradition is based on the doctrine of precedent where the courts rely on previous leading judgments from the superior (higher) courts. Precedent then assists today’s courts in making decisions when they are faced with similar facts in cases they hear. In the case of R. v. R. (Rape: marital exemption) [1991] 4 All ER 481, the House of Lords (the highest appeal court at the time) had to look to the old common law for assistance in defining what was unlawful as here the question was about rape within marriage. Since the ruling in R. v. R., rape is now possible as a criminal offence within marriage and has become common law. It is presumed that the common law will apply unless an Act of Parliament specifically abolishes it or renders it redundant. The offence of rape carries a maximum life prison sentence.

See Chapter 4.5

An Act of Parliament is primary legislation also known as ‘black letter law’. All legislation starts with a bill before parliament and can start in either the House of Commons (HC) or the House of Lords (HL). Once a bill has completed its proper stages in one of the houses, the process is repeated in the other – this is known as ‘parliamentary ping pong’. After this, any amendments from the second house are considered by the first.

When both houses agree on a bill, then it may be presented to the monarch for Royal Assent. On those occasions when no agreement between houses can be reached, there are instruments by which generally the will of the fully elected House of Commons will eventually prevail under the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.

Conventions and prerogative powers of ministers. These powers are among the most significant that any government can possess. However, the ability of ministers to rely on prerogative powers continues to give rise to problems of accountability. Ministers regularly use the Royal Prerogative without any parliamentary approval or scrutiny. In July 2019 Prime Minister Boris Johnson used these powers to prorogue (suspend) the Westminster Parliament. This was held as ‘unlawful’ by the Supreme Court where 11 justices held unanimously that Mr Johnson had acted ultra vires (unlawfully, outside his powers) on 24 September 2019. The momentous decision was read out by the President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale (see: R (on the application of Gina Miller) v. The Prime Minister; Cherry and others v. Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41).

Here in Table 1.1 are some examples of the Royal Prerogative and Parliamentary Conventions:

Table 1.1 Conventions

...

The making and ratification of treaties	● North Atlantic Treaty 1949. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a security alliance of 30 North American and European states. NATO protects the freedom and security of its 30 member states.
Recognition of states; the appointment of Ambassadors and High Commissioners abroad

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Table of cases
• Table of statutes
• Glossary of acronyms and legal terms
• Internet sources and useful websites
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The legal systems in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Chapter 2 Human rights: Privacy and media freedom
• Chapter 3 Defamation
• Chapter 4 Court reporting
• Chapter 5 Contempt of court
• Chapter 6 Freedom of information and data protection
• Chapter 7 Social media and fake news
• Chapter 8 Regulators
• Chapter 9 Intellectual property law
• Bibliography
• Index