Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act

Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of Article 10 ECHR, as received through the Human Rights Act 1998, on the substantive law governing freedom of expression in the media. Fully up to date, the book provides extensive coverage of crucial recent developments in this field; these include: the key cases of Ashworth and Punch in the area of contempt; the ground-breaking privacy decisions in Von Hannover v Germany and Campbell v MGN; full consideration of theoretical approaches to explicit speech and blasphemy, including a detailed critique of Strasbourg case-law in the area; detailed discussion of the new offence of incitement to religious hatred; the new scheme for content regulation of broadcasting under the Communications Act 2003 in the light of Prolife Alliance; a full survey of recent domestic and Strasbourg caselaw in the areas of copyright and political defamation, and analysis of the early impact of the Freedom of Information Act. The authors - both leading academics in the field - have drawn on significant comparative decisions to formulate a coherent and provocative critique of the relationship between media law and freedom of expression, and suggested principles which make a significant contribution to the legal discourse surrounding media freedom in the Human Rights Act era. The result is a book which provides a scholarly and theoretically informed analysis of this very topical subject, of interest to those studying at all levels and practising in this area of law.

1. - Introduction
2. - Strasbourg, media freedom and proportionality: Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
3. - The Human Rights Act in the context of media freedom
4. - Introduction: free speech and fair trial values
5. - Free speech and fair trials: reporting restrictions
6. - Free speech and fair trials: prejudicing proceedings
7. - Protection of journalistic sources
8. - Pornography: hate speech?
9. - Blasphemy, racial hatred and religious hatred
10. - Censorship and regulation of the visual media on the ground of avoiding offence: general issues of law and policy
11. - Regulating broadcasting on grounds of avoiding offence
12. - Regulation of films, videos and the internet
13. - Privacy and freedom of expression: Strasbourg jurisprudence in UK courts
14. - Protection for privacy against the press in the Human Rights Act era
15. - Defences to the tort of misuse of private information and remedies
16. - Restrictions protecting the private and family life of children
17. - Regulation of the broadcast media and the protection of privacy
18. - Copyright law, Article 10 and media freedom
19, - Official secrecy, access to information and the media
20. - Freedom of political expression in broadcasting
21. - Defamation and political speech
22. - Conclusions

Helen Fenwick, Professor of Law, University of Durham Gavin Phillipson, Professor of Law, University of Durham