Notes for RNZ slot from Ursula Cheer (Associate Professor) Canterbury University, 12 October 2011

Ursula Cheer, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Canterbury, discusses the recent Rio Ferdinand decision, a privacy case from the High Court in the UK

How the law attempts to deal with hoaxes and pranks in the media that lead to harm

Today I can’t avoid talking about how the law attempts to deal with hoaxes and pranks in the media that lead to harm, following the shocking outcome of the prank by Mel Greig and Michael Christian, hosts of 2Day FM Radio station in Sydney

Using trespass in newsgathering

It doesn’t happen often in New Zealand, but sometimes media use disreputable methods to obtain stories. One of these is trespass. Unauthorised entry on to another’s land is a trespass and is wrongful. The occupier of the land may bring a civil action for damages and, in some circumstances, a criminal prosecution may also result

A State's Increasing Role in Monitoring Expression: New Zealand's New Censorship Regime

In New Zealand, following an important censorship decision made under a new legislative regime in 1996, distributors of the overseas magazines 'Knave', 'Ravers' and 'Two Blue' now employ individuals whose soul task is to examine such magazines after they enter the country, in order to carefully obscure with black felt pen identified harmful words contained within certain advertisements. This censorship decision is somewhat surprising, and it and others merit detailed examination

The Influence of Canadian Charter Jurisprudence on Freedom of Expression in Defamation in New Zealand

In this paper, I examine the impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on defamation law in New Zealand. The topic turned out to be a continuation of my previous work on how the common law could be, and is being, modified in ways which minimise potential chilling effects on freedom of expression. Here I discuss the recent extension of the defence of qualified privilege in both jurisdictions, in the New Zealand Lange cases, and in the very recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Torstar case. To my delight, it is also a story of how the common law, (with a little help from statute), is constantly reinvigorating and reinventing itself, not only within separate jurisdictions, but also between them – essentially a rich, robust process of fertilisation and cross-fertilisation of ideas, analysis and experience

Harassment, Privacy and Alison Mau

Privacy has been in the news again. Alison Mau made complaints on the tele that she was being stalked by media. (this was denied). This story involves aspects of spying, or surveillance, and so it is timely to discuss some recommendations made by the Law Commission in its on-going investigation into our laws of privacy (Invasion of Privacy: Penalties and Remedies (Report 113, January 2010)

Notes for RNZ slot from Ursula Cheer (Associate Professor) Canterbury University, 29 February 2011

The recent Court of Appeal judgment in the Clayton Weatherston appeal, which raised issues of when a conviction can be overturned because of statements made in the media during trial

Notes for RNZ slot from Ursula Cheer (Associate Professor) Canterbury University, 7 September 2011

Discusses how UK newspapers the Sun and Daily Mirror were fined for contempt of court for articles published about a man arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanna Yeates