Newsdesk Law: Court reporting and Contempt

by Vincent Kelly

The first thing to say about Newsdesk Law is that it is a learning aid. It does not pretend to be a text book.There are many media law text books each with hundreds of pages densely packed with information needed by lawyers, newspaper editors, radio station managers, reporters and sub-editors and, yes, journalism students.The trouble for many learners is that very mass of detail makes it difficult to isolate and understand where the basic building blocks of libel, privacy, court reporting, freedom of information and copyright come in.Once people understand those basic building blocks all the finer points of law slip into place. This is what Newsdesk Law provides –the key principles of media law explained in detail using actual case-histories to illustrate each and every important point.Newsdesk Law is designed primarily for journalism students but we believe that the Libel and Privacy sections especially are of value also to people who already work in newspapers, television or radio and who need to brush up on the very latest developments.Others who will find them useful are the citizen journalists who send blogs soaring out into the great wide world without perhaps realising how vulnerable they can be to writs for libel or summonses for contempt of court.WHAT THE REVIEWS SAY“ The sections on Reynolds Privilege defence and on privacy are particularly good because they explain complex issues simply. The book will be very useful as an aide memoire to practitioners and as a student text book.” Manchester barrister Peter Buckley who advises national newspapers on libel and contempt.“ The book has enough detail on the key areas of libel and contempt of court to act as a valuable aide memoire. It also includes a very practical guide to how the courts work, with useful (redacted) examples of real-life court lists, and even a custody sheet with a guide to their interpretation. Where this book scores over some others is in its succinct explanation of the developing area of privacy. This is well targeted at journalists, with enough background and examples to put it in context without going too deeply into the legal arguments.” - BBC College of Journalism.

85 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2012