Liability in the internet age – David Rolph

In this piece, which originally appeared in the Gazette of Law and Journalism in November 2010, media law academic Dr David Rolph* looks at the impact of new forms of communications on defamation law. Where does the defence of innocent dissemination come in? And are internet service providers, website hosts and search engines really publishers?

Internet technologies have clearly revolutionised the way in which we communicate. Their impact on the law applicable to those communications has been less dramatic.

Blogging the media and checking the facts

The blogosphere has a rich seam of “media related” blogs, many of which engage in serious critical analysis of the vagaries of  the mainstream media.  Last year we did a post to introduce our readers to a selection of these.  This post updates and expands our earlier coverage, also taking in the “fact check” blogs.

We will begin with the blogs which dissect the popular press.  Our first stop is usually the Tabloid Watch blog – now two years old and still going strong.