Essential Law

 

Up To Speed's Ken Brown

Ken Brown, Law Tutor: "It is absolutely imperative that journalists understand how the law affects their profession."

Every time you sit at a keyboard you are faced with temptation as a journalist. It has never been easier to publish your own views and opinions or to sample the rich pickings of words, images, songs and video clips apparently available for “free” online.

It is all too easy for you to forget that we live in a time of no-win no-fee lawyers and in a country, which has become the libel capital of the world.

 

According to the Times, 259 libel cases were brought to the High Court in 2008 alone, representing an 11 per cent increase in just four years.

That is why Media Law is essential and why it is a bedrock of the NCTJ syllabus at Up To Speed.

The key text for this unit is McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists.

Assessment

Exam: 2 hours 30 minutes.

Syllabus

The NCTJ syllabus covers eleven key areas and you will also study adjudications made by both the Press Complaints Commission and the regulator Ofcom as well as rulings from the Editors’ Code of Practice.

You will learn:

  1. How the legal and court processes in the UK work, legal terminology, and the hierarchy of the courts.
  2. Contempt of Court and related matters. How your reporting may affect the chances of a fair trial and some of the defences and justifications journalists can make for publication.
  3. How the law can protect the anonymity of people who are juveniles, complainants in sexual offence cases, subject to blackmail attempts or involved in issues of national security.
  4. About the ethical obligation to be accurate in your reporting.
  5. How you can be sued for defamation in cases of libel or slander and defences you can make to these charges.
  6. Copyright law and understand how it can protect your work, and also how to avoid breaching it.
  7. About laws relating to confidentiality and defences for a breach of confidence in your reporting.
  8. How to protect your confidential sources.
  9. The importance of privacy and the misuse of private information.
  10. Other ethical considerations covering areas such as covert filming, subterfuge and deception.