Security required in aisle 3!!!

it's always the pedoff aisle
where the peduncles lurk...

I fear Russell is sleeping in...
I think I'll head out to the garden
to lop some laterals and cut back
the creepers and stalkers...

I believe it's not illegal to gossip about the names behind suppression laws. It's publication that will have you pulled up beside whaleoil in court.

The problem is that we are not just talking about the "Top 10 political blogs" (like this one) which have daily posts by political/media insiders…

Power seems like a man in a hurry. Never a good thing in a politician in my book.

A good time to say I noted this previously.

Most blogger codes of ethics sound like they're written by people wanting to be journalists, and many of the more interesting and valuable blogs are good precisely because they go beyond journalism's ideas of how to do public knowledge.

I'm getting painful flashbacks of those alternative blog awards earlier in…

Quite so :)

I guess the shorter version is this: I'll be damned before I swallow a lecture on journalistic standards from the author of 'Asian Angst' in a newspaper I wouldn't use as dunny wipe. (I have more respect for my arsehole than the Herald on Scum-day has for…

On Robyn – the interesting thing there is that it was her magazine – she founded it and left unwillingly. The PC's strength historically has been through the fact that the publishing barons have always taken it seriously. In turn the PC's deliberative functions have always been conducted in…

The current laws seem to work pretty well.

Idiot/Savant agrees.

...the claim that we are not subject to any form of regulation is simply false. As a blogger, I'm subject to exactly the same laws as Power is in issuing his press releases. If I defame someone, I can be…

P.S. So far as Mr Slater is concerned I am increasingly concerned that some elements within the "Mainstream Media", MSM or perhaps "Old School Media" would like to equate his activties with online media as a whole.

It's worse than that, Alastair. A tedious new way for columnists from Auckland…

The PM broke the name suppression law himself to find out the name of an accused performer and hasn't been prosecuted for it, maybe there is a Rotary clause?

I believe it's not illegal to gossip about the names behind suppression laws. It's publication that will have you pulled up…

Graeme ... Yes it is.

Yes it is.

It's not listed in their process for complaining

Yes it is:

12.In those cases where the circumstances suggest that the complainant may have a legally actionable issue, the complainant will be required to provide a written undertaking that s/he will not take or continue proceedings against the publication or…

I've been blogging for over 14 years and have never (knowingly) incurred the wrath of an MP.

You can't be doing it right! :)

This review is pretty much standard stuff from Simon Power. He's reacting to a couple of cases – in this case probably the Slater case.

When…

Perhaps more significantly the upside of consenting to Press Council jurisdiction is that the complainant agrees at the outset not to pursue any other remedies.

I thought they got rid of that. Particularly after the 2007 review by Ian Barker and Lew Evans noted:

The Press Council often requires complainants…

What are the risks of blogs/sites like ours joining the Press Council?
Is it simply to avoid the sourges of the BCA and/or the devil we don't known in any new Internet regulator?

Do we risk allowing the mainstream media to reverse-engineer standards/activities online?

Do we risk being dependent…

Perhaps more important are the right of an accredited reporter to be present in court during a criminal trial even when the public is excluded, and rights relating to the protection of sources in the Evidence Act.

For clarity the definition of an "accredited" reporter is basically anyone that the…

Maybe we should come up with a list of sites he should be reading for him. Obviously The Wellingtonista and Hubris are good starting points...

Only if you want him to ban drinking next

A further piece of information which may or may not be relevant relating to the Press Council in particular – and internet standards.

Some months ago Scoop applied to join the Media Freedom Committee – i.e. we wrote to them and asked if we could join. We did so…

This all suggests that Simon Power needs to expand the range of blogs in his feed reader.

Maybe we should come up with a list of sites he should be reading for him. Obviously The Wellingtonista and Hubris are good starting points...

While it could be argued that politics informs every aspect of our lives, that…

I have never heard a convincing rationale for this inconsistency.

The standard one is that one uses the public airwaves – a limited resource – and the other does not. Historically, there's only been space for a limited number of broadcasters, who get to use frequencies that mean that no-one…

Let's start with the Press Council. The Press Council is not a statutory body.

Quite so. The Press Council is a limp rag. I registered a formal complaint with them earlier this year about a series of paid-for 'advertisements' by an ACT loon in a local free weekly, which were…

IIRC, the Law Commission has pondered that one in the past too.

Yep. The new Evidence Act, including the protection for journalists' sources, followed on from an extensive Law Commission report.

Wouldn’t it just be easier to pass a law banning Cameron Slater?

Perhaps more important are the right of an accredited reporter to be present in court during a criminal trial even when the public is excluded, and rights relating to the protection of sources in the Evidence Act.

Thanks, Graeme. IIRC, the Law Commission has pondered that one in the past…

Nope. The proper news media enjoy no special rights in either case there.

Some provisions of the Defamation Act only apply to newspapers and/or news media (although they're not terribly important ones).

Copyright Act too (some of the limited Fair Dealing provisions, for example).

Perhaps more important are the right…

A central question. I thought copyright and defamation were affected at least.

Nope. The proper news media enjoy no special rights in either case there.

What statutory rights do "real" news media enjoy alongside their responsibilities?

A central question. I thought copyright and defamation were affected at least.

One of the things that disturbs me most about the announced review, was that there was no mention of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. They could have at least done a hand-wave about "balancing off freedom and responsibility" but couldn't…

You know, it's very hard to consider yesterday's comments from the minister and not conclude that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

The review, he says:

… will focus on whether either of the two existing industry watchdogs – the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Press Council…