LEGAL DANGERS FACING FINANCIAL JOURNALISTS

Writers and broadcasters must be able to spot legal dangers in stories under their care, and know how to handle them or open discussions with editors and lawyers.

Journalism skills addressed during the course

1. •News judgment
   

2. •Accuracy
   

3. •Understanding of basic defamation dangers
   

4. •Handling hoaxes and rumours
   

5. •Copyright
   

6. •Codes of conduct.
   

Course Objectives 

After completing the course, participants can expect to be able to:

1. •Decide whether to refer stories to senior editors and lawyers
   

2. •Identify defamation stories
   

3. •Publish defamatory stories with confidence
   

4. •Recognise the types of allegations that carry high risk
   

5. •Define defences against a defamation suit
   

6. •Identify stories that might be in contempt of court
   

7. •(For visuals) Outline areas where it might not be safe to take photographs
   

8. •List the provisions of relevant codes of conduct.
   

Course Outline

The course simulates a breaking story. Journalists start by writing a difficult legal story and are then offered the opportunity to interview players in the evolving news event, many of whom add legally dangerous material into the mix. Learning reviews ask participants in facilitated discussions to extract learning points from the output of all writers, to build checklists to avoid legal dangers for use after the course.

Terms explained during the course

Defamation, contempt, copyright, Reynold’s defence, current case law.

Pre-course work

Pre-course reading, learning agreements and a short evaluation to establish existing knowledge of media law.