Archive
19 Mar

Writers’ coalitions against TC Media, Toronto Star new freelance contracts

<p><strong>By Paula Last</strong></p><p>When freelance writer Ann Douglas received a new contract for her parenting column in the <em>Toronto Star</em>, she couldn’t sign it. The contract, <a href="http://www.thestoryboard.ca/why-i-am-no-longer-writing-the-column-i-loved-for-the-toronto-star/">Douglas said</a> gave permission to third parties to reuse her work without or editorial control and denied additional compensation. </p>

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25 Feb

Journalists, lock up your cellphones

<p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px;">Journalists who use their cellphones may want to get into the habit of password-protecting their devices in the wake of a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal which found police do not need a warrant to </span><a href="http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2013/2013ONCA0106.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; color: rgb(192, 2, 2); text-dec

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13 Feb

Journalists can now tweet from Ontario courtrooms—but what does that mean, exactly?

<p><strong><em>A note from our new Law editor, Thomas Rose, followed by his first column for J-Source:</em></strong></p><p>After many years at the helm of this section, Dean Jobb is moving on.  He will be missed. Dean’s effort at constructing the Law Section and in creating what he was fond of calling “a clearinghouse for news, information, advice and commentary on legal issues of importance to journalists” cannot be understated.</p>

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12 Feb

Time to abolish outdated defamatory libel offence

<p>Prosecuting and jailing citizens for defamatory libel smacks of show trials we’d expect from countries such as Russia and China, says media lawyer and Law Times columnist Alan Shanoff. Yet the archaic law remains on the books and was recently used to imprison an Ottawa restaurant owner for publishing false material concerning an online restaurant reviewer.

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1 Jul

Court ruling about sharing online news information “should eliminate fears that linking…raises legal risks”

<p>The Federal Court of Canada's ruling involving a website that linked to a National Post column and a photographer's website is seen as good news for those who ink to news, according to law professor Michael Geist. In his column in <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/2012/06/30/all_the_news_thats_fit_to_post_and_link_federal_court_clears_up_legal_risks.html">today's Star, linked here,</a> of course, he describes how by dismissing the claims against Free Dominion, the court has "removed much of the legal uncertainty surrounding sharing infrmation online."</p>

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8 Feb

Criminal libel probe of N.B. blogger questioned

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23 Jan

Media outlets post Vancouver riot photos online before handing over to police

<p>Six media outlets in British Columbia will hand over thousands of photos and videos of last June’s Vancouver riot to police under a court order – but not before some put them online for readers to see.</p>

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26 Oct

Press freedom in Canada

<p><em>Yes, there are threats: government secrecy, terrorism, regulation of new media. <strong>Nakita Singh Hans</strong> gives us a sneak peak at next year's Press Freedom in Canada conference.</em></p><p>Government secrecy, terrorism laws and the regulation of new media are among the threats to press freedom that will be explored at a Ryerson University conference early next year.</p>

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19 Oct

Top court protects online links from libel claims

<p>Internet users who post hyperlinks to libellous material posted on other websites cannot be sued for repeating the libel, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. The Oct. 19 ruling in <em>Crookes v. Newton</em> protects one of the most basic functions of the Internet -- the ability of users to share links to material posted online, even material they have not fully reviewed and they may not agree with.

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24 Sep

Court rulings dissect responsible communication defence

<p><em>It has been almost two years since the Supreme Court of Canada created the libel defence of responsible communication on matters of public interest -- long enough for at least three courts to weigh in on what journalists must do to meet its criteria. In this column in the upcoming issue of the CAJ's Media magazine, J-Source's law section editor <strong>Dean Jobb</strong> explores how the new defence is being interpreted.</em></p>

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