Summary of latest regional court rulings and international bodies that reveal 'global norms' related to the regulation of media and speech.

1. G R A P P L I N G W I T H ‘ B E S T P R A C T I C E S ’
I N T H E R E G U L A T I O N O F M E D I A & S P E E C H
D R . M A T T J . D U F F Y
A S S I S T A N T P R O F E S S O R
D E P A R T M E N T O F C O M M U N I C A T I O N
K E N N E S A W S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
K E N N E S A W , G E O R G I A , U S A
M E D I A T R E N D S C O N F E R E N C E
W E B S T E R U N I V E R S I T Y / / V I E N N A , A U S T R I A
S E P T . 1 1 , 2 0 1 5
Global norms for media law

2. Do global norms exist?
 Yes, debatable.
 I would argue yes. See, for instance, health codes.
 But, how to draft them for communication?
 Regional courts
 Inter-American Court of Human Rights
 European Court of Human Rights
 African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights
 Global bodies
 United Nations
 OSCE, European Parliament, African Commission
 NGOs such as Amnesty International, HRW, FH, RWB
 Treaties: ICCPR, UN declaration of human rights

3. 5 broad categories of media regulations
1) Defamation: Injury to reputation
2) Insult laws: Regulating offense
3) Public order & national security: Providing safety
4) Licensing of journalists: Professionalization?
5) False news laws: Try to prevent untrue journalism
Some, not all, fit within Article 19 of ICCPR:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public
order, or of public health or morals.

4. Defamation – 3 ‘best practices’
1) Civil lawsuits rather than criminal charges
1) African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights just overturned
a criminal defamation case in Burkina-Faso
2) Truth must be a defense for defamation
1) Otherwise, we allow people to protect good reputations that
they do not deserve.
3) Public figures must withstand more scrutiny than
private figures
 ‘Actual Malice’ – forgives journalists for errors
that were not intentional
 Not specifically embraced worldwide.
 Most courts expect public figures to withstand more scrutiny

5. Public order & national security
 Tricky: Without public safety all other
guarantees are meaningless
 Laws, legal rulings attempt to give fullest
protections for expressions of political speech
 Anti-terrorism laws increasingly target speech
 Few rulings but certainly a concern
 No consensus on hate speech (public order issue)
 Some focus on calls for “imminent lawless actions”
while others target speech that denigrates a group
 Public morals also have no “global norm.”

6. Insult laws
 Most courts, observers see them as vague, abused
by powerful, incompatible with free expression
 ECHR ruled against ‘insulting the ruler’ case
 IACHR also ruled against charge
 African Commission called for complete ban on insult laws
 ‘Fighting words’ doctrine in US does state that
some speech is unprotected if designed to provoke
violent response  need to research more
 Agreement that public officials should not have
power to use insult laws against speakers

7. Licensing of journalists
 Governments that can license journalists can have
unfair pressure on robust journalism
 Journalists may self-censor if worrying about losing
ability to work.
 Both African Court and Inter-American Court have
ruled against licensing of journalists.
 Lies outside of ICCPR guidelines

8. False news laws
 Noble goal – who wouldn’t want truthful reporting?
 Problem arises when government officials determine
what news is untruthful.
 Many courts & bodies have argued that “false news”
laws simply incompatible with free expression
 Also lies outside ICCPR guidelines

9. The End!
 Dr. Matt J. Duffy
 Teacher of media law &
journalism at Kennesaw State
 Find slides and published
papers on: www.mattjduffy.com
 Email: mattjduffy@gmail.com
@mattjduffy