Social Media May Be the Wild West BUT libel can still see you in court. And the past can come back and bite you

Eden PResents

In this episode we chat to ⁠Sarah Daniels⁠, Media Law expert and trainer, award-winning journalist and crime reporter, about how media law can offer real protection against those that operate over the ethical social media line. Sarah, previously Deputy Managing Editor for Reach plc, the biggest news publisher in the U.K. and now Communications Manager for Arriva UK has dealt with legal and ethical matters all through her career and has some strong views on the invasion of privacy and the unethical practices and abuse that seem all too commonplace on social media platforms these days.

She also has some shocking stories of the well-known landing themselves in legal hot water and find out why something that you do with your phone everyday can get you fined or even jailed.

It’s a popular misconception that just because something is happening in the public domain, such as someone suffering a medical emergency, does not mean that you can publish pictures or video of them without consent. Breach of privacy is an offence, and you can be sued.

Libel – even an inference about someone (you don’t have to name anyone if they can still be identified) – can be a civil matter that can cost you dear in the courts. Every retweet of anything defamatory is treated as a fresh instance of that libel.

Being caught up in a civil matter will hit you your pocket and a legal case could see you end up in jail. In both cases you could lose your job and career.

And that’s even before we get to contempt of court ……

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