FFS, pardon me for not being entirely shocked at the idea that a man in his mid-90's might not be in the best of health – but where's the legitimate public interest in violating his…

Quite – you know what, you many not like an unelected hereditary monarch who has to meet a religious qualification being New Zealand's head of…

The worst that could happen is maybe a diplomatic incident, but even then, it'd be on the milder end of the scale.

A tv story I saw said that Australian broadcasting/surveillance laws offer relevant protections for recording without knowledge or broadcasting without consent. Guess that's why the station manager has made such a deal of how many times they phoned…

There really, really is.

The central fact here is that there's a young woman suffering a distressing…

Most such laws are restricted by national borders. When the perpetrator and victim are in different countries it requires two sets of laws to work in cooperation (like extraditing Kim Dotcom requires NZ and US laws to cooperate).…

And pretty much always has been. So if your point is they should just get over themselves and put up with the paparazzi then, maybe. At what point do you think William was told if he didn't like it…

Charles insists that everyone he meets, including senior people that he works with everyday, call him "sir". When they came here, rather than (like all our elected politicians) travelling on Air NZ's perfectly comfortable services, we had to lay…

Given that this comes so hard on the heels of the Leveson inquiry and the decades of invasions of privacy they've had to suffer at the hands of the British press, I'm not about to go accusing them of being precious unless…

But anyway, I'm surprised that anyone hasn't suggested that fault is with the British royals for being so fucking precious that putting through a prank call is a big issue?

If it highlights that trying to humiliate people for a laugh can have consequences something good…

But more and more I am seeing examples such as that which Ian linked to. I vaguely recall some changes to reporting being changed not so long back.
I wonder though if we actually are confronted with the truth ,we may well be able to…

I was under the impression there were rules about the reporting of suicides, the weak justification being that they don't want people to read about a suicide and try it out for…

Certainly in this case: http://www.smh.com.au/world/nurse-at-kates-hospital-who-took-prank-call-from-sydney-djs-suicides-20121208-2b1u2.html

More often than not, it’s a euphemism for suicide. These fellas make Iain Stables look like Dougal Stevenson.

They have gone

Also to note. the Herald writes ”Police say death not suspicious" Double speak? It almost glosses over the tragedy.

And in fact this was the nurse who originally took the call because there was no-one at reception at something like 5:30am in the morning – not the one who later…

Unfortunately right. Unaccountable state bureaucracy + private-sector materialistic crassness = a law unto itself.

The blurring of lines in television is part of a wider trend in media to exert greater marketing influence over news values, emphasising news as a commodity rather than a service.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I'd really rather be informed than…

There are even moves afoot to 'zap' all food
to get rid of those pesky (uncopyrightable?) bacteria !
aren't the great food corporations helpful?

So maybe the Leveson Inquiry could be looked at from an anti-trust perspective, instead of a free press perspective. Al Capone never got nabbed for a single murder, but tax evasion was his fatal weakness.

I think the one thing those who've argued that…

Yeah well, that ship sailed a long time ago.
Another thing that struck me living there was the extent to which the landscape/culture was largely accepted, or at least most people had given up hoping it would change (you can't turn back time).

I…

Malik is talking about holding power to account as if the only power is the government/state.

It's not even just the individual power of someone like Murdoch, it's as much that all the proprietors in a self interest sense, and their editors from…

I've no doubt many individual journalists still take their role of holding power to account very seriously, but I don't think that's true of those in management.

I think, as has been borne out, this is because someone like Murdoch is…

It's a very strong argument. I've just followed him on Twitter.

Oh, me too.

So, would you like those 'freedoms'…

Then I read Kenan Malik. Damn he is impressive.

I still think yes to Leveson (like my opinion matters), but now I’m filled…

Exceptions are Fairfax, where the depredations of a fresh-out-of-Harvard Warwick…

They're all counting on the fact that the overwhelming tone of British public life…

It was formed during a period when major newspapers were regional and privately held, and before the age of Big Media. So how can the Press Council be given regulatory teeth without weakening free speech? A starting template…

I do think there should be a media code of conduct and a regulatory body in charge of all media – including us lowly bloggers and microbloggers. But I think…

Rich: in NZ's case, the traditional media industry seems to exhibit classic signs of a…

The damages award for defamation type cases should not be mitigated or reduced if there is to be a low cost litigation panel or tribunal – the thing in whatever jurisdiction will likely start with good intentions and eventually become…