Misplaced comments

I’ve created this article specifically to move the below comments to (rather than delete them); they were previously posted on my CV; I left them there for around two years.

I’ve backdated it to the date of the comment. I made the move on 13 August 2014.


4 responses to “Misplaced comments”

  1. Maybe you should read McNae’s Essential Law For Journalists – this blog is full of libel, defamation and contempt.

    If it was read by more than three people, you would no doubt have a substantial number of lawsuits on your hands.

    Congratulations on the A Level results in your CV.

    Best regards,
    A real journalist

    • I have a good, practical, knowledge of the state of libel law, both through what I do on this website and through my volunteering with mySociety. If anyone brings any specific instances of potential defamation to my attention I will of course take action on them.

      Of course there is a lot of content on this site which is defamatory; for example I expect the videos I’ve posted of Graham Bright, a candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner will damage his reputation, but it is right in my view, and entirely legal, to post them, they are true, they show what he said.

      I do not think that journalism ought be a protected profession; I don’t think that court reporting ought be restricted to “real journalists” or that such a category of people ought exist. Often I find professional journalists are required to be excessively cautious by their employers, and sometimes don’t grasp what the law allows them to do often differs from their institution permits based on its attitude to risk.

      I do not consider myself a journalist; although sometimes I do report on things which I observe because I think to a degree people with information of public interest or value have a duty to share it.

      I don’t think the number of readers has any connection with likelihood of legal action being taken; and in any case is much higher than “3” (almost any way “reader” is defined).

      I don’t think comments are really appropriate on this page; I will leave this here for a period though and perhaps consider moving it elsewhere at some point.

  2. I’d suggest the so called (Anon) Journalist gets an up to date copy of McNaes or looks at the associated website in the meantime CPS have published guidelines for social media http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/communications_sent_via_social_media/index.html From what I have read there is nothing to fear and iuf yoiu have made a mistake then of course you would consider the matter and correct if appropriate. The anon journalist is also mixing up conspiracy laws in his rant……

Leave a Reply to JULIAN BRAY UK (@JULIANBRAY) Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.