Legal: UK Court Ruling a Blow to Investigative Reporting

The UK, already notorious for its lax libel law that makes probing media work difficult, is likely to see even more hardship for investigative journalism thanks to a weird and troubling ruling from a UK appeals court in a key libel case involving the Times of London.

The appeals court overturned a lower-court ruling that the newspaper was covered for a story by the so-called "Reynolds privilege" - which allows reporting stories in the public interest so long as the publisher has acted responsibly.

The appeals court said that privilege does not extend to the Times' article reporting that a London police detective-sergeant was under police investigation for accepting bribes from the Russian Mafia. The suit was brought by the police officer.

In the ruling, Lord Justice Neuberger, the UK's second-most senior judge, said: "It seems to me that it would be tipping the scales too far in favour of the media to hold that not only the name of the claimant, but the details of the allegations against him, can normally be published as part of a story free of any right in the claimant to sue for defamation just because the general subject matter of the story is in the public interest."

The Guardian, reporting on the ruling, quoted a media lawyer who said: "This is a decision which is so obviously wrong that it needs to be reviewed." The Times is appealing the decision to the UK's supreme court.

The UK Human Rights Blog also has an interesting post on the ruling here.

Legal: Cops Detain ProPublica Photog Over Town Sign Pix

Here's another one from the post-9/11 annals of security obsession: A news photographer snapping pix of a town's sign in Texas found himself detained and aggressively questioned by cops in two squad cars, a rather edgy local FBI/Homeland Security agent and, last but not least, a security guard from oil giant BP.

Police demanded to see the hapless photog's pictures and even passed his name on to the BP sluggo, despite the fact that it was clear from the pix nothing of any security value was on the camera. Read freelancer Lance Rosenfield's account at the ProPublica site here. (ProPublica had hired Rosenfield to snap the pix for two exposés on BP, linked in that item.) And here is ProPublica's response to the incident.

Investigations: Just 8% of Sunscreens Pass Safety, Marketing Muster

Just eight percent of sunscreens passed muster on a safety and marketing test, according to the fourth annual poll of the Environmental Working Group. Most sunscreens have potentially toxic ingredients or make exaggerated claims about effectiveness, the group reports. See the EWG's site for the list of approved products.

One of the results of the exaggerated product claims: People tend to stay in the sun longer than they should. That finding was confirmed by a new study by the Canadian Dermatology Association, which found Canadians are unaware of the impacts of sun damage and how to protect themselves. The Canadian Medical Association Journal also has this report on the issue.

TAGS: health