CIPIL Evening Seminar: 'The Ethical and Legal Framework within which the Guardian approaches Information Concerning Natural Persons'

Speaker: Gillian Phillips, Director of Editorial Legal Services, The Guardian News and Media 

"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves." (Aaron Swartz). In the post-Leveson Inquiry environment, what restraints govern what newspapers publish? The statute book is full of legislation that controls and constrains speech. Most, if not all, of this legislation applies online as well as offline. These laws set boundaries, some civil (defamation, privacy, personal data and intellectual property rights) others criminal (obscenity, terrorist content, revenge porn, harassment, incitement to racial and religious hatred). Much current discussion centres not so much around legal controls but on regulation (whether by regulator or self-regulation). What rules and regulations do UK newspapers like the Guardian, with both an online and offline presence, work within, particularly when dealing with individuals who may find themselves at the centre of a scandal or story that is not of their own making? And where and how does the public interest fit into this and how is that defined?

Enquiries to: cipil@law.cam.ac.uk