Legal considerations in media writing

“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression including the freedom to seek, receive and communicate information and opinions of any kind in any form” we are told this from a young age that we have a right but it is to an extent. Your right to freedom of speech has limits established by law such as defamation, perjury, obscenity, promoting racial hatred and threats to kill or injure someone are crossing the line of our freedom of expression.

When writing for the media we cannot speak untruths about people as we could in turn be sued for defamation. Defamation is the publication of a statement about someone that lowers him or her in the estimation of right-thinking members of society. The misdemeanour of defamation protects a person’s reputation against unjustifiable attacks. 

The law requires a balance between protection of reputation, and freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It covers untrue information that is placed in the public sphere and harms the reputation of a person. An example would be saying “He has been a peeping Tom for years” when this has no truth to it. There are two kinds of defamation ‘libel and slander’ but for legal purposes there is no definite distinction.  Libel covers printed communications, such as newspaper articles, press releases, e-mails and letters. Slander covers spoken words such as TV or radio news.

An example well known in New Zealand is when Mark Hotchin, the former Hanover Finance boss sued The New Zealand Herald for defamation because they seriously damaged his personal and commercial reputation and caused him to lose commercial opportunities. The charges for this can be very costly so this is why we must be very careful when accusing or saying harmful things about individuals that we have true facts.

Copyright is another law we must be careful about when practising. Copyright protects original creative works. These can be literary and dramatic works, musical works and artistic works.  It covers songs, films, drawings, books and dance works. This provides protection under the Copyright Act 1994 and prevent any person using the artistic work protected unless you have permission by way of licence or you make payment. After the death of the person who created the work it is still protected for a period of 50 years.

When working in the media we must be wary of trademarks. We cannot use symbols protected by a trademark. Trademarks protect brands from being unlawfully used by someone else. A trademark is a ‘sign’ that is represented graphically be it cover letters, sounds, colours, words, pictures or smells. For example McDonalds, Nike and Coke have a trademark and Cadbury has a trademark on the specific purple colour they use.

Chloe Harvey


Discuss the ethical, copyright and other legal considerations in media
writing

There are several laws to consider, when writing for the media. I
knew there were laws but I was totally unaware of what they were and what they
meant. Freedom of Speech is one law to be considered in media writing. Freedom
of speech states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression including the
freedom to seek, receive and impart information and opinions of any kind in any
form”. Though everyone has the right and freedom of speech and expression, this
freedom comes with a limit and responsibility. There are other laws to consider
such as the law of defamation. This law “protects a person’s reputation against
unjustifiable attack”. This means that you cannot write untrue information about
a person, as this can and will probably ruin a person’s reputation.




Another law to consider is intellectual
property. This law protects books, advertising, brochures, logos, designs and
computer programmes that a person has produced through their own creativity.
This law ensures that people do not use and claim another person’s creativity to
gain revenue. One should be
aware of copyright, trademarks, designs and patents and state where they got
their information from. Always try to use your own original writing with quote
marks where necessary.



Another law that should be considered when
writing is the Fair Trading Act. This law refers to misleading and deceiving
information that appears in advertising. One cannot communicate incorrect or
misleading information deliberately in order to gain revenue. So when writing,
be clear and concise about the message you would like people to receive. Do not
beat around the bush and have a hidden meaning in your message.




The Privacy Act refers to personal information
about an individual and the person has ownership over that information and that
we should recognise the fact and uphold it. We can relate to this act when
  interviewing someone. We should collect information about a person, only if it
  is for a lawful purpose and collect the information from the individual
  concerned. Let the person know why you are collecting the information and what
  it will be used for. You can also double check the personal information with
  the person you interviewed, making sure the information is correct and that you
  have quoted them correctly. Before sending it to your superior, make sure your
  writing is true and that you have not used someone’s personal information
  without their permission.