Category: Media and Communications

The Constitution at 70

| 7 Comments
| Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications

Bunreacht ConstitutionThe Irish Constitution is 70 years old this year. To mark this (platinum?) anniversary, Dr Oran Doyle and Dr Eoin Carolan, colleagues at the School of Law, TCD, have organized a conference, The Constitution at 70 (website | brochure (pdf))

Oran invited me to speak at the conference on the theme of freedom of expression in a session on unenumerated rights; I was delighted by the invitation, and (as I’ve mentioned before on this blog) I accepted with alacrity, as this is something on which I have Views! This post is about the current state of those Views, but it is offered not as my final thoughts on these issue but very much as ideas in progress, on which I would be grateful to receive comments, either here or off-blog.

Under the Constitution, there are at least three expression interests. First, there is the right to freedom of expression in Article 40.6.1(i). Second, a right to freedom of the press has also been spelled out of Article 40.6.1(i). And third, there is a right to communicate as one of the unenumerated rights in Article 40.3.

The first theme of my paper will largely be the story of this right to communicate.…

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What do words mean?

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| Freedom of Expression, Irish Society, Media and Communications

Language is a tricky thing. It isn’t static, but evovles over time, by the introduction of new words, phrases, grammar and so on, and by movement in the meaning of words. New words are obvious, new meanings less so; moreover, as the new meaning becomes dominant, phrases using words in their old meanings either become unintelligible or are co-opted to the words’ new meanings. Most of the time, such shifts are subterranean, and matter little. But we should nevertheless be aware of this, so that we can make the necessary adjustments when it does matter. An example is provided by the front of today’s Sunday Independent …

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Xenophobic European Bloggers Beware

| 4 Comments
| Blogging, Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications

Kevin Jon Heller cuts right to the heart of what will happen now that the EU Criminalizes Racist and Xenophobic Speech:

The real problem with the Framework’s approach to racist and xenophobic speech is the profoundly chilling effect it will almost certainly have on such speakers. What rational artist or filmmaker will risk pushing the ideological envelope if she knows that the criminality of her speech depends not on her intent but on the (unpredictable) reactions of others to it?

…

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No such thing as a free lunch, even at BarCamp

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| Blogging, Irish Law, Irish Society, Media and Communications

antoin-at-barcamp.jpgOver coffee at BarCamp last Saturday with Marie Boran (of Silicon Republic) and Antoin Ó Lachtnáin, conversation turned to last week’s news reports (BBC | OUT-LAW.com | The Register) that two people (let’s call them the leeches) were arrested in the UK and cautioned for using other people’s (let’s call them the routers’) wifi without permission. There are interesting questions of legal liability here, both for the leech and for the router, and they came up again in the context of Antoin’s presentation later that day about fon. That’s Antoin preaching the fon gospel in the photo on the left. Here, I want to discuss some of the legal issues, before turning to Antoin’s presentation.

Let’s look first at the liability of the leech. …

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And so, to BarCamp Dublin

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| Blogging, Media and Communications

picture-4.pngFulfilling a promise rashly made ages ago, I spoke at BarCamp Dublin (blog | wiki) in the Digital Exchange on Crane Street in the Digital Hub (maps here and here) yesterday morning.

Once I had surmounted the usual technological glitches, this is me (click on the image for a bigger version, if you dare!) in full flow trying to cover the following issues:


Eoin at BarCamp Defamation, Privacy,
Obscenity, Hate Speech, Contempt,
Copyright, Threatening Speech,
Workplace speech issues,
Bloggers as Journalists,
and Soft Controls

For what they’re worth, my powerpoint slides are here, but were no more than a starting point for discussion (and anyway, TJ’s already done it much better here; see Sarah’s reaction here).

Update (26 April 2007): EFF have recently updated their legal guide for bloggers; whilst in Monday’s Media Guardian (hat tip: Media Law Prof Blog), Alice Gould writes about The blogosphere, the law and the printed word:

Anyone wanting to publish material posted on social networking sites, or other sites, needs to check the site’s terms and conditions to see who owns the material and whether it can legally be reproduced.

Update (4 May 2007): 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know (hat tip: Freedom to Differ)

Update (17 May 2007): I’ve just found this podcast of the event in which TJ delivered the presentation mentioned above.…

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Responsible Headline

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| Irish Society, Media and Communications, Press Council

picture-7.pngYesterday saw another milestone in the development of responsible journalism in Ireland. Joining the Press Council (blogged here) on the roster is Headline, which, according to its website:

… is Ireland’s national media monitoring programme, working to promote responsible and accurate coverage of mental health and suicide related issues within the Irish media.

Managed by Schizophrenia Ireland, Headline was set up by the Health Service Executive‘s National Office for Suicide Prevention as part of Reach Out National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention (pdf). I learn from a piece by Carl O’Brien (who had launched the Headline website a fortnight ago with George Hook) in today’s Irish Times (sub req’d) that this important and welcome development is supported by the NUJ. Whether or not the media accept the prevasiveness of their influence, the fact that the initiative has the support of the NUJ is a welcome exercise of responsibility on their part.…

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Holocaust Denial in the EU

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| Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications

Holocuast Memorial Day logoThe Holocaust Memorial Day Trust will be holding its second annual conference on Monday 30th April at the Town Hall in Leeds, England (conference details pdf here). No doubt there will be much discussion of the merits of legislation against holocaust denial. The German proposal in January to have the EU make holocuast denial a criminal offence as a matter of EU law (blogged here by me, and with great insight by Section 14 and Liberal England) was debated in the Parliament in March, and was adopted by the Council of Ministers yesterday …

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