Comparative Press Freedom (LAWS90269)

Media law is at once an established and dynamic field of law. This specialised subject provides a comparative and international law approach to media law, including international law, such as the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights, and domestic jurisdictions including Australia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and South Africa.

The theoretical underpinnings of media freedom are analysed, including the definitional question of what types of speakers ought to qualify as "media" or a "journalist".

The subject surveys the latest developments and legal protections in relation to combatting violence against journalists, focusing on the work of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.

We also examine laws that enhance the media in its newsgathering functions, including its ability to use freedom of information laws to access government and corporate information, to rely on the principle of open justice to access and report on court cases, and to protect its confidential sources. The subject also will explore those areas that inhibit newsgathering, including surveillance of journalists, and search and seizure of journalistic material.

Principal topics will include:

• Theoretical foundations of the right to media freedom and its legal protection.
• Safety of journalists.
• Newsgathering:
  • Freedom of information laws
  • Protection of sources
  • Open justice and broadcasting/ streaming court cases
  • Surveillance of journalists
  • Search and seizure of journalistic material

• Investigative journalism and civil liability:
  • Defamation
  • Privacy and data protection
  • Intellectual property law
  • Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)

• Investigative journalism and criminal liability:
  • Criminal defamation and insult laws
  • Contempt of court laws
  • National security laws

• The legal regulation and self-regulation of legacy media – print media, radio and television.
• The regulation of new media:
  • Applying existing content law to new media
  • Regulating social media platforms (eg Facebook and Twitter) and search engines (eg Google and Bing)
  • Regulating generative AI

• Litigating media cases : case studies.