“Taking photographs of individuals in private places without their consent is not acceptable, unless justified by the public interest.” I’ve never been a huge fan of the Press Council. It was set up as the lesser of two evils, an industry-funded self-regulator, the greater evil being a state-sponsored regulator. Threats of new privacy laws, and… Continue reading The Public Interest
Tag: free speech
Rules and regulations
I’ve never had much time for the UK’s Press Complaints Commission. Like its Irish counterpart, the Press Council of Ireland, there are too many industry faces on the board, and industry voices were far too keen to set it up. Self-regulation doesn’t work anywhere else, so why should the press be any different? About the… Continue reading Rules and regulations
Free speech
Since, as one debater observed, sometimes 140 characters aren’t enough, some thoughts arising out of a twitter debate this evening. Free speech is meant to be offensive. Free speech wears tattoos and wants to date your daughter. Free speech wants to do drugs. Free speech wants to stop immigrants taking our jobs. Free speech hates… Continue reading Free speech
In the beginning was the word
There was a time when book burning mattered. Once upon a time, religions enforced dictates by burning books containing the wrong opinions. To be orthodox was, literally, to hold the right opinion. And just in case that didn’t work, heretics were burned at the stake for good measure. At the end of the medieval era,… Continue reading In the beginning was the word
Hairetikos
So I’ve got some unleavened bread here. To some people, it’s just a piece of flour, mixed with water and heated. And to some people, it’s the body of a god, sacred beyond imagining. Plain unraised bread, made without yeast or other raising agent, is ‘unleavened’. A few years ago, a Florida student called Webster… Continue reading Hairetikos
QED
Kevin Myers writes, in the Irish Independent of Friday 25 May, 2009: “Google Amnesty International and Hamas, and you will find many, many condemnations by Amnesty of Israel; but you will have to work very hard indeed to find Amnesty’s condemnations of Hamas. Yes, there are some, but they are seriously muted in comparison to… Continue reading QED
Free Speech or Worthy Speech?
There’s a meme going round, and I’m not sure what to make of it. One recent example forms the lead in to an article in Forth, and goes as follows: “We have to defend Lars Vilks because free speech matters but he’s a fool and his alleged would-be assassins arrested in Ireland are bumbling idiots,… Continue reading Free Speech or Worthy Speech?
Streisand Effect
The Guardian reports it has been gagged from reporting parliament. It cannot report that a particular question was asked of a minister, or who asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question can be found. Nor is it allowed to say why it can’t tell you those… Continue reading Streisand Effect
Making the Cut
When is a complaint not a complaint? When RTÉ broadcast a lighthearted complaint in March about a portrait of Brian Cowen hung in that national gallery, they received nine calls complaining the item was in poor taste. It’s not clear if the nine includes a call from Eoghan Ó Neachtain, who rang RTÉ director general… Continue reading Making the Cut
Section 35
‘The common law offences of defamatory libel, seditious libel and obscene libel are abolished.’ That’s the entirety of section 35 of the Defamation Act 2009, signed into law by the president, Mary McAleese, last Thursday. The next two sections are devoted to blasphemy. Blasphemy, you may remember, was included in the bill at the last… Continue reading Section 35