Twitter and
Facebook are changing the way the world receives and shares information.
It wasn’t
so long ago that all we had were newspapers and TV/Radio news. Now we can get almost
immediate, on the spot tweets straight to our phones. In many ways this is
making the news far more democratic.
But it also
carries legal risks for all of us. We may publish something and be blissfully
unaware that we are breaking the law.
This is
what happened in the recent rape trial of footballer Ched Evans who was
convicted earlier this year. Nine defendants have been fined for revealing the
name of the victim on both Twitter and Facebook. They have also been ordered to
pay her compensation –
Their
Defence was that they did not know it was against the law. Unfortunately that
does not amount to a legal defence. If you publish unlawful material then you
pay the consequences. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
This is
where the development of social media causes problems. We are all becoming
reporters. But not everyone is trained. Not everyone has access to media
lawyers who can proof read what we write and warn us of any problems that might
arise. As we know 140 characters can cause much pain!
So what do
we do? We are hardly going to have access to lawyers to vet everything we say! So
the only advice is ‘don’t do it’. If there is any potential for causing offence,
or upset or other negative reaction then ask yourself ‘is it worth it?’ There
is plenty going on in the world to keep us occupied without causing unnecessary
heartache to ourselves and others.
Think first
tweet later!!
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