A recent poll on this website put the following to readers:
ANSWER ONLY IF YOU SUPPORT CHANGES TO EXISTING UK LIBEL LAW:- If a snap election is called, how do you plan on voting?
The Alliance Party - 1 (0%)
Conservatives - 52 (19%)
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - 0 (0%)
Greens - 23 (8%)
Labour - 61 (22%)
Liberal Democrats - 72 (26%)
Plaid Cymru - 8 (2%)
Sinn Féin (SF) - 3 (1%)
Social Democratic & Labour Party (SDLP) - 3 (1%)
SNP - 28 (10%)
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) - 0 (0%)
Other - 20 (7%)
Total Votes: 271
This confirms what most of us already knew; that there's considerable support across the political spectrum for changes to UK libel law .
We are also in a situation where we have the support of some individual journalists (with some notable exceptions), but very few editors.
(I don't think it's at all paranoid to acknowledge that old media have a vested interest in keeping new media on a tight leash.)
These are the two reasons why I think that this could be a watershed moments for bloggers; we're largely on our own, but we're willing to stand together.
A group of us are right now working on a proposal that will involve manageable and carefully prioritised changes.
We'll be putting something to the public soon. Watch this space.
1 comment:
Good luck!
'New Media' has really started to shine, as both an alternative and companion to the MSM over the last year - it is vitally important that given the financial fragility of bloggers and often odd liability of service providers, decent protection is afforded in order to preserve free speech.
It'll be tough. I think many/most of those with the power to effect change still consider blogs to be little more than a dissident nuisance or source of unregulated gossip, but we'll see.
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