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The European Court of Human Rights in a judgment of 15 February 2005 has come unanimously to the conclusion that the United Kingdom has violated Article 6 (fair trial) and Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights in a libel case opposing the McDonald's Corporation against two United Kingdom nationals, Helen Steel and David Morris, who had distributed leaflets as part of an anti-McDonald's campaign. In 1986 a six-page leaflet entitled “What's wrong with McDonald's?” was distributed by Steel and Morris and in 1990 McDonald's issued...

The BBC is currently aiming to increase its transparency and accountability as a response to the process of reviewing its Royal Charter. As part of the resulting reforms, a new Code of Practice for handling complaints (see IRIS 1997-9: 13) has been published; the website on which it appears will also report on the volume and range of complaints received together with the BBC response and details of clarifications, corrections and remedial action taken. The Code of Practice gives details of how to make a complaint via the website, by telephone or post. The BBC aims to provide a response within ten...

The Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport has laid a “Foreign Satellite Proscription Order” before Parliament under Section 177 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as amended; the current law is contained in the Communications Act, sections 329 - 332). If there are no objections, it will come into force on 21February 2005. The Order concerns Extasi TV (or Exstasi TV) . The service advertises itself as an “extreme hard core satellite TV channel” and the complaints concerned the service transmitting “violent pornography”. OFCOM notified the Secretary of State that the service was “unacceptable”;...

On 10 February 2005 the UK media regulator OFCOM - in particular, the Content Sanctions Committee -made an adjudication in the case ofPlayboy TV UK/Benelux Limited. The Committee found the channel to be in serious breach of the Programme Code, Articles 1.1 and 1.4(d). Article 1.1 concerns general requirements relating to “Family Viewing Policy, Offence to Good Taste and Decency, Portrayal of Violence and Respect for Human Dignity”. Article 1.4 - an absolute duty - requires broadcasters to refrain from transmitting any material in its “R18” version. That classification is according to the scheme...

The right to access information held by public authorities is a significant, albeit indirect, right affecting the media industries. It resonates most particularly in the context of gathering information to facilitate news, current affairs and investigative journalism output. Long regarded (whether justifiably or not) as a very "secret society", five new access to information rights held by public authorities came into force in the UK, including Scotland (a distinct legal jurisdiction) on 1 January 2005. The Council of Europe has long promoted the principle of access to information, most notably...