On 5 January 2011, we set the first “Inforrm” Media Law Quiz – 22 tough questions arising out of the Media Law Cases of the past 12 months.  Thank you to everyone who submitted entries.   Assiduous reading of the blog enabled many to spot the trick questions and the other pitfalls laid by the quizmaster.   After careful analysis of the answers there was a clear winner – with an impressive 100% of correct answers  – Mr Benjamin Pell.  This outstanding entry has attracted the “Special Inforrm Editors’ Prize” – a copy of the eagerly awaited Tugendhat and Christie, The Law of Privacy and the Media (2nd Edn).

The second prize goes to the impressive collective “Guardian Legal Team” entry, under the dynamic leadership of Zoe Norden.   They will receive a copy of  Privacy and Freedom of Expression by R Clayton and H Tomlinson (OUP, 2010).

Many thanks to everyone who entered.

THE INFORRM MEDIA LAW QUIZ – 2010  the Answers

1.  Who said what about whom (or what), when and where?

(a) “I have known him for many many years but I smiled when I saw him compared by one national newspaper with Sir Thomas More”

Desmond Browne QC about Sir Michael Tugendhat on BBC Radio 4’s Law In Action which was broadcast on 23 February 2010

(b) “He is a lovely man, and much-maligned”

Mark Stephens about Sir David Eady, quoted in The Independent on 4 December 2010.

(c) “The more I read this blog the more I think it is written by and for British libel lawyers”

Heather Brooke about the INFORRM Blog on Twitter-26 October 2010

2.   What have intellectually devious judges “from places like Malta” insisted on and according to whom?

That Article 8 includes the right to reputation. According to Geoffrey Robertson QC

3.  Which High Court judgment in 2010 began with the memorable first two paragraphs “1. [Redacted], 2. [Redacted]”?

ABC Ltd v Y [2010] EWHC 3176

4.   What were the “de-anonymised” names of the following cases in 2010?

(a) BCD v CDE?

This was a typo, the true anonymised case name was BCD v EFG and the de-anonymised name is Donald v Ntuli

(b) P v E?

Pink Floyd Music Ltd & Anor v EMI Records Ltd

5.   In the past three years three privacy claimants have been identified as “PQR”, two have subsequently been de-anonymised in public judgments:

(a) Who was the 2010 PQR?

Bernard Gray

(b) Who was the 2009 PQR?

Michael Napier

6. Which consent order in 2010 resulted in two hearings, two reserved judgments and an appeal to the court of appeal?

JIH v News Group Newspapers Ltd

7.   What was the largest libel award in the English courts in 2010 and where were the defendants based?

£150,000. The first defendant The Russian Television & Radio Broadcasting Company is based in Russia. The second defendant Vladimir Terluk is based in London

8.   Whose suggestion led to a new threshold of seriousness and when was it made?

The contemplated answer was “Sedley LJ in Thornton v Telegraph Media Group on 29 March 2010 [2010] EWCA Civ 510 who raised the question as to whether the words were defamatory – leading to the application on meaning which resulted in the judgment Thornton v Telegraph Media Group [2010] EWHC 1414 (QB) establishing the new “threshold of seriousness” in libel cases” however the judges have decided to accept, as an alternative “Tugendhat J following submissions made by Mr David Price”.

9.   Which defendant to a potential libel claim apologised for instructing solicitors to send letters threatening libel proceedings?

Professor Orlando Figes

10.  What is the significance of the following numbers:

(a) 298?

(a) Libel claims issued in London in 2009

(b)  700?

The European average for libel claims

(c)   3?

Completed libel trials in 2010

11.  Which country in Europe has

(a) the highest number defamation cases each year per head of the population?

Sweden  (sorry to those entrants who said Moldova, based on a rare Inforrm inaccuracy)

(b) the highest level of defamation damages relative to its per capita GDP?

Moldova

12. What do the following have in common:

(a)  David Howarth, Chris Mullin and Julie Kirkbride?

They voted against Jack Straw’s proposal to reduce success fees in defamation cases to 10%.

(b)  Andy Gray, Sienna Miller and Nicola Phillips?

They have started actions against The News Of the World regarding allegations of phone hacking

(c)  DFT, AMM and KJH?

Injunction cases in which blackmail has been alleged.

(d)  Christiano Ronaldo, Tom Watson and Nelson Piquet?

They all obtained Statements In Open Court in 2010.