It is extremely important for a journalist to understand the laws which may affect a potential news item. This is especially true in court reporting, and unless someone has a good knowledge of the rules they can easily fall foul of them and be charged with contempt of court.
I would be incredibly unpopular in prison. With this in mind, I compiled a long impenetrable mass of notes from MacNae's Essential Law for Journalists.
Edit: Made changes to some longer posts to make them easier to navigate.
Year One:
Court Reporting
Defamation, Defenses, and Privilege
Defamation continued: The Reynolds Defence, Criminal libel, slander and malicious falsehoods
Confidentiality, Injunctions, and Breaches of Confidence
Copyright and Fair Dealing
Investigative Journalism and Subterfuge
The Freedom of Information Act
The NUJ's Code of Conduct
Year Three:
Defamation and Libel
Election reporting
Privilege and Court Reporting
Confidentiality and privacy
Investigative Journalism
Copyright
Regulation and Codes of Conduct
