Media Law for Journalists

Media Law for Journalists functions as both an introduction and a reference guide to the main legal issues facing U.K. journalists. It is intended as a course textbook for students, first and foremost. However, it is also intended to help keep journalists out of jail and on the right side of the law. The book presumes no prior legal knowledge but covers all the relevant areas including: defamation, privacy, contempt of court, freedom of expression, and intellectual property. It also looks at the difference between the English and Scottish legal systems as they pertain to the media.

functions as both an introduction and a reference guide to the main legal issues facing U.K. journalists. It is intended as a course textbook for students, first and foremost. However, it is also intended to help keep journalists out of jail and on the right side of the law. The book presumes no prior legal knowledge but covers all the relevant areas including: defamation, privacy, contempt of court, freedom of expression, and intellectual property. It also looks at the difference between the English and Scottish legal systems as they pertain to the media.

Ursula Smartt has lectured in law, criminology and social policy (prisons) for more than twenty years at higher education establishments. She holds an impressive track record of research in both law and criminology and was awarded a visiting professorship at the German Max Planck Institute in Freiburg in ‘Comparative Criminal Law’ in 2001. She has published five single authored books. Her long track record as independent prison researcher with UK and international ministries of justice include Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Hungary, the USA, Canada, India, New South Wales (Australia) and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Her latest publication is ‘Media and Entertainment Law’ Routledge, 2011, the first book to include superinjunctions. Other areas of research include mercy killing and euthanasia and domestic violence. She is a magistrate on the Surrey Bench at Guildford.