Reporting Restrictions

In February 1993, 2 year old James Bulger was abducted from a shopping centre in Merseyside. He was then tortured and murdered by two 10 year old boys. At the time of the murder their identities were protected until the end of the trial when they were found guilty their identities; Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were made public by judge Mr Justice Morland.

The judge lifted the restrictions because of the nature of the murder and the public reaction, I think it was the right decision to make lifting the restrictions 

Law - Defamation

Defamation is a statement that tends to damage the reputation of a person in the eyes of the right thinking individuals. Causing them to be sunned or avoided or cause them financial loss.

Libel is a published false statement that is damaging to a persons reputation, libel is a written defamation that is permanent.

Slander is the action of making a false spoken statement damaging to a persons reputation.

- Fair Comment is when a comment is made but it's an opinion or not meant to be made malicious. When comments like this are made, you need to be careful as this is a 'grey area'. 

- There are two forms of Privilege. Absolute privilege covers anything that is said in the House of Commons and Qualified privilege means using information from an official police statement – provided it is without malice and in the public interest.

- Public interest is arguments made with an honest belief in their soundness on a matter of public interest (such as regarding official acts) are defendable against a defamation claim, even if such arguments are logically unsound; if a reasonable person could honestly entertain such an opinion, the statement is protected.

An example of a UK libel case is the McCanns launching a £1m libel case against an ex Portuguese detective. Ex detective Goncalo Amaral published a book claiming the girl was dead and that her parents had lied about what happened. Courts failed to reach an agreement in this case. 

The Defamation Act 2013 replaced the 1996 Act, this was necessary