6 Key Legal Issues Every Comms Expert Should Know About
Publishers are facing law suits, injunctions and legal threats more than ever - and there's every reason to think the PR industry could be dragged in too.
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The FBI has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, following an article she published last month about the bureau’s director Kash Patel and concerns about his unexplained absences and alleged excessive drinking. Kash has also launched a $250million lawsuit against Fitzpatrick and the publisher for defamation.
It comes as we are starting to see more state and big corporation intervention and obstruction to journalism and publishers.
Last week the editor of the Wall Street Journal said powerful figures were increasingly threatening to sue media outlets before they have even published a story. Emma Tucker, whose title is being sued by Donald Trump over its reporting of his relationship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said the tactic of threatening to sue newspapers before they had published a story had become an established PR strategy of the powerful.
President Trump’s dislike of MSM has been well documented but we are seeing increasing difficulties in the UK.
It’s not quite like the US yet but it’s certainly true that many publishers and broadcasters are having to fight off a range of legal claims, including for breach of copyright, defamation and vexatious complaints to regulators such as IPSO.
It made me think about the risks to comms pros and the world of PR at a time when litigious players are threatening legal action at the drop of a hat. There is no doubt that although the risk is smaller than for publishers, they can potentially be dragged into the legal net.
And it’s particularly pertinent when the opportunity to be the creator/publisher is open to PRs more than ever – whether it is messages on X or Facebook, video on YouTube or appearances on podcasts.
It’s also an issue close to my heart as one of my other roles is chair of the law board for the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
We offer bespoke legal courses for Comms Pros – please drop us a line if you are interested. But for those who don’t want a law lecture just yet, here are a few thoughts.
Defamation: Traditionally the biggest legal threat to journalists. The test of whether someone can sue for libel is: has it been published, are they identifiable, is it defamatory. So, a tweet is going to count as being published along with any other social media post (ask Sally Bercow, the wife of the former Speaker of the House of Commons who was one of hundreds who were sued for tweeting about a member of the House of Lords who had been wrongly accused of sexual offences). Remember you can libel businesses – and they are likely to have the money to take action. And is it defamatory – use the common sense test. If it makes people think worse of a company or individual, then it will meet the threshold.
