Soapbox is a Canberra journalist and photographer who runs his own online magazine Female’s Fortnightly, which is only accessible in Australia but is hosted by a United States server. He was fired from his last job with competing magazine Girl’s Weekly for his questionable antics, and so is keen to get his career back on track.
It’s a slow news week and so Sam calls his friend Billy Bribe who works as a project manager for the Commonwealth Department of Community Wellbeing, which is Minister Larry Leisure-suit’s portfolio department. ‘Yo yo Billy my mate!’ Sam says enthusiastically. Billy immediately suspects that Sam is after information, but decides to play along. ‘Sam, how are you going? Dragged that career of yours out of the garbage yet?’ Sam asks Billy what the latest gossip is around the Department and Billy tells him ‘Well it’s funny you should ask that, because I just read a Departmental Brief which talked about a constituent of his, Jessica Jilted who runs some business called Join Jessica. Apparently she wrote to Larry about a meeting that they had where Jessica proposed some deal but Larry refused to run with it. I hear she comes from a poor suburb, dysfunctional family, but turned her life around – you know, one of those rags to riches stories. Jessica’s a buxom blonde so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something more to the story, if you know what I mean…’
Sam can’t believe his luck with this scoop. He knows that Larry is often photographed with women other than his wife, but as far as Sam can recall, Larry has never mixed business with pleasure like this. Sam decides to see if can dig up any more about this Jessica Jilted on the internet for background to his article so types her name into Google. He’s finds a story about the current Canberra murder trial of Barry Bad, and about how a woman called Jessica Jilted is a key witness for the prosecution. Sam finishes his article and publishes it on his site. The article, ‘How to win Government contracts’, contains the following paragraph:
Minister Leisure-suit has been spotted engaging in an intimate rendezvous with the delicious Miss JJ of Join Jessica. While this blonde bombshell may not have the brain for business, she has demonstrated that she knows how to use her ‘assets’ to secure a very profitable business deal with the Minister’s department. She does not appear to be letting her upcoming court appearance stand in the way of her business ventures, where she is expected to charm the jury into finding poor Barry Bad guilty of a crime he couldn’t possibly have committed.
Jessica is devastated after reading the article. In fact, she and her husband met with Minister Leisure-suit to discuss him being the spokesperson for their charity raising money to help disadvantaged teenagers go back to school. Sam’s reference to her being a witness in Barry’s murder trial also incorrect, and she thinks that Sam must have based this on the nonsense gossip that has been appearing on anonymous social media sites.
Questions:
(1) Assuming that the Department of Community Wellbeing is responsible for Billy’s conduct, has the Department breached Information Privacy Principle 11 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). (5 marks)
(2) Has Sam defamed Jessica in his online article ‘How to win Government contracts’ and are any defences available to him? In your answer, discuss any jurisdictional issues that arise in relation to Female’s Fortnightly (10 marks)
(3) Has Sam committed contempt of court by publishing his article ‘How to win Government contracts’? In your answer, briefly discuss the defences that might be available to Sam and the consequences if he has been found to have committed contempt. (8 marks)
Part 2 – 15 marks:
With reference to two topics we have studied in Weeks 1 to 7 (eg. defamation, court reporting, privacy, etc), discuss what affect new media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has had on the law. In your answer, outline the relevant legal principles, discuss any new dimensions that new media has added to these areas of the law, and outline whether law reform is required.
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