The Wardman Wire

Following on from my earlier post about English Defamation Law, Paul Bradshaw (who blogs mainly about the future of Journalism) highlights an important opportunity to start the process of reforming our Defamation Laws.

The “Multiple Publication” rule says, among other things, that if you publish an article allegedly or actually defaming you, it is a new publication and offence every time somebody reads your web page – rather than being a single act of publication.

Forget about turning your Twitter avatar green or adding a Twibbon, here’s something you can do today which can make a genuine difference to both professional journalists and bloggers: write to the Ministry of Justice as part of their consultation on defamation which has just a few weeks left:

“This consultation seeks views on the ‘multiple publication rule’ under which [people can be sued for every time a web article has been accessed], and its effects in relation to online archives. The paper considers the arguments for and against the rule and the alternatives of a single publication rule.”

Read it all then take action.

Paul even has a Pledge at Pledgebank:

In case you need further nudging, I’ve started a pledge at PledgeBank – if 10 people sign up to that pledge to write to the MOJ, then I will write too. But not until then. If you need any help let me know.