Media Law and Practice – new book from OUP

Hot off the press is a new book from OUP on “Media Law and Practice”, edited by David Goldberg, Gavin Sutter, and Ian Walden. 

This is a multi-author book, written by a team of practitioners and academics.  It covers a wide range of media topics, including ownership, regulation, intellectual property, defamation, and commercial communications.       

I contributed a chapter on Information Law:  this discusses data protection, freedom of information, and human rights issues, including articles 8 and 10 of the Convention.  One of the book’s features is that it deals with new forms of communication (including blogging), as well as traditional print or broadcast media.  So I had to address questions such as, how would the “special purposes” defined in the DPA (ie artistic, journalistic and literary purposes) apply to web-based publications?

The impetus for the book comes from the Institute of Computer and Communications Law, based in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London.  All three editors are members of the Institute.  It’s a major centre for research and teaching in areas related to information law, including intellectual property, telecoms regulation, computer law, and media law.

The book is available online from OUP’s website.