Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act

Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of Article 10 ECHR, as received through the Human Rights Act 1998, on the substantive law governing freedom of expression in the media.

Fully up to date, the book provides extensive coverage of crucial recent developments in this field; these include:-

• the key cases of Ashworth and Punch in the area of contempt;
• the ground-breaking privacy decisions in Von Hannover v Germany and Campbell v MGN ;
• full consideration of theoretical approaches to explicit speech and blasphemy, including a detailed critique of Strasbourg case-law in the area;
• detailed discussion of the new offence of incitement to religious hatred;
• the new scheme for content regulation of broadcasting under the Communications Act 2003 in the light of Prolife Alliance ;
• a full survey of recent domestic and Strasbourg caselaw in the areas of copyright and political defamation,
• analysis of the early impact of the Freedom of Information Act.

The authors - both leading academics in the field - have drawn on significant comparative decisions to formulate a coherent and provocative critique of the relationship between media law and freedom of expression, and suggested principles which make a significant contribution to the legal discourse surrounding media freedom in the Human Rights Act era.

The result is a book which provides a scholarly and theoretically informed analysis of this very topical subject, of interest to those studying at all levels and practising in this area of law.

• Offers comprehensive coverage of major media law topics, including privacy, contempt, copyright, official secrecy and freedom of information, content regulation of broadcasters, and political defamation
• Takes a comparative approach to consider the impact of the Human Rights Act on these areas, written by leading experts on the Act
• Includes detailed discussion of recent key cases and legislative developments to early 2006