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On 5 March 2019, the Attorney General’s Office published the Government’s response to its call for evidence examining the impact of social media on the administration of justice. The response revealed that although the risk to the legal process has increased with the proliferation of social media in recent years, it nevertheless remains relatively minor and it is still at a level whereby it does not pose a serious threat to the criminal justice system. The call for evidence was launched in September 2017 by the then Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, and closed on 8 December 2017. It asked for examples...

That’s Manchester is a local television service serving the city of Manchester and its surrounding area, however, it was held to have breached Ofcom’s Rule 9.5 by giving undue prominence to a product, service or trademark during two news reports. The first report concerned an initiative by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce to encourage small businesses in the area to adopt their own website. The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce was working in conjunction with a digital marketing service called UENI. The That’s Manchester newsreader, in their introduction, referred to the pairing...

On 18 February 2019, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee published its Final Report on disinformation and fake news (“the Report”), following on from its July 2018 Interim Report. Since then, the Committee has held three further evidence sessions, inviting UK regulators and the Government to give evidence, as well as receiving a further 23 written submissions. In November 2018 the Committee hosted an “International Grand Committee”, inviting parliamentarians from nine countries. The Report develops the areas covered in the Interim Report,...

The findings of the Cairncross Review (“the Review”), chaired by Dame Frances Cairncross were published on 12 February 2019; it made nine recommendations for addressing two primary issues: (i) is the market in which publishers operate a fair one or has the growth of large online platforms, such as Google and Facebook, created distortions that justify government intervention? (ii) how should society continue to support the monitoring of, and reporting on, the activities of public bodies - not just central government, but also local councils, courts and inquests. The Review referred to this type...

On 25 February 2019, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) ruled that commercial radio station Talk Radio presenter James Whale had breached the Ofcom Broadcasting Code over an “insensitive” interview with a victim of sexual assault. Earlier in July 2018, James Whale and his co-presenter Asher Gould interviewed a journalist and invited her to comment on remarks made by author Jilly Cooper that the #MeToo movement, which was launched following the multiple sexual misconduct accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, had changed the way in which people interact. In particular, Mr Whale asked...