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Shooting the Messenger

online reporting by INDependent journalist Dean Sterling Jones

Category: Law and Politics

The Case for Regulation

Members of UK official press regulator IMPRESS answer criticism that state-backed regulation could undermine a “vibrant local press” Last week, I blogged about IMPRESS, which recently gained recognition as the first official press regulatory body in the UK. The decision was made by the Press Recognition Panel (PRP), the government-funded body set up in the wake of the…
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UnIMPRESSed

Two publications are no longer seeking membership with UK state-backed press regulator IMPRESS, with another on the fence This week, it was announced that IMPRESS, a UK press regulator funded by motor racing tycoon Max Mosley, has gained recognition as a state-backed media watchdog. The decision was made by the Press Recognition Panel (PRP), the…
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The Tyranny of Values

Downing Street used misleading data from “right-wing think tank” to “name and shame” universities that host “extremist” speakers, newly released e-mails show Late last year, Downing Street unveiled its updated Prevent strategy, requiring universities and colleges to “stop extremists radicalising students on campuses.” Citing work by Whitehall’s Extremism Analysis Unit (EAU), Downing Street claimed that…
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Unblurred Lines II

The Daily Telegraph publishes Page 2 clarification based on my corrections request re: Crown Prosecution Service’s skewed statistics on rape Last month, I blogged about how the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) exaggerated the 2015-16 rape conviction rate. Via a press release, the CPS claimed that it was “convicting more cases of rape…than ever before,” with “a rise…
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Unfurnished

Award-winning reporter Tristin Hopper says The National Post geo-blocked his article about UK celebrity injunction after being contacted by internationally renowned law firm Fasken Martineau Last month, I blogged about efforts by David Furnish—husband of pop singer Elton John—to censor journalists and Internet users from reporting or discussing his alleged extra-marital affair with another married couple. Furnish…
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Unblurred Lines

The Independent publishes my corrections request re: Crown Prosecution Service’s skewed statistics on rape convictions Last week, I blogged about the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) having exaggerated the 2015-16 rape conviction rate. Via a press release, the CPS claimed that it was “convicting more cases of rape…than ever before,” with “a rise in the rape conviction rate…
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Blurred Lines

UK prosecution service fudges the statistics on rape Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) released its annual Violence Against Women and Girls crime report.¹ Via a press release, the CPS claimed that it was “convicting more cases of rape…than ever before,” with “a rise in the rape conviction rate [from 56.9] to 57.9 per…
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The Bitch is Back

Carter-Ruck Lawyers passes the baton to Schillings partners in Elton John three-way tabloid scandal, but where does that leave Internet users threatened with legal action? The juiciest celebrity news story of 2016 went unreported in the UK thanks to strong-arm legal tactics by David Furnish, husband of pop singer Elton John. As you didn’t read in the newspapers,…
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Presumed Guilty (cont.)

Concluding the search for “Special Notice 11-02”, the Metropolitan Police Service’s never-before-seen document overturning the presumption of innocence Earlier this month, I blogged about my enquiry to the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service requesting a copy of “Special Notice 11-02,” an official police document issued in 2002 which – according to this controversial Feb. 10 Guardian article by police commissioner Bernard…
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Presumed Guilty

The search for “Special Notice 11-02”, the UK Metropolitan Police Service’s never-seen document overturning the presumption of innocence [UPDATED: Read the Met Police’s response to my enquiry by clicking here] Earlier this year, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe wrote a controversial article for the Guardian arguing that police officers “should not unconditionally believe every…
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