Media Law

Please answer the following THREE Learning Problems (600 words per learning problem) using the questions provided. Each of the three learning problems MUST answer the following questions:
a. What are the main media law issues that arise here?
b. Explain briefly how those laws and possible defences might apply.
c. What cases / examples / legislation are relevant to this situation?
d. Assuming the goal is to try to publish as much material as is legally allowable, what course of action would you recommend for the publisher in this situation and why?
LEARNING PROBLEM 1:
The tweeting PR person
You are employed in a State Government environment department as a media communications officer. You know your colleague – employed at the same level as you – is highly opinionated against the current government’s policies. A friend brings to your attention the fact that your colleague has been tweeting highly critical messages opposing the government’s shark netting policies using the anonymous Twitter handle @ecowarrior. You feel conflicted but decide to report the behaviour to your boss. A few days later you learn that the department is going to dismiss her over her anti-government tweets.
LEARNING PROBLEM 2:
MORETON ISLAND SEX KILLER ARRESTED
By LOIS LANE
Police have arrested the man who murdered and raped an elderly woman on Moreton Island in Queensland last month.
Edith Johnston was found dead in her Moreton Island home four weeks ago.
Labourer David Smith is expected to be charged later today.
Detectives visited his Cleveland home on Monday morning and later escorted him into Roma Street headquarters.
During the investigation, Mr Smith had described himself as a friend of Mrs Johnston who would do odd jobs for her on his weekend fishing visits to the island.
Mr Smith was also the man who raised the original alarm to police, concerned the 93-year-old woman was not answering her door when he had knocked.
Police found Mrs Johnston naked in her bathroom when they attended to check on her.
She had lived alone in the single story fibro bungalow since her husband Fred died in 2010.
Neighbour and friend Liz Wallis said she was in disbelief that a potential serious crime had been committed on a usually peaceful island.
She said: “This is not Moreton Island, believe me – things like this don’t happen here. We just can’t understand it. We’re devastated.”
Police questioned Smith for more than three hours last Wednesday after forensic experts determined the woman had been the victim of a sex murder.
A police media spokesperson said Smith had made several admissions to them during that interview and said he had been drinking heavily for several hours prior to the attack.
His home computer had been seized and incriminating pornographic images had been found on it.
Police said his eight year old daughter Phoebe was being cared for by her grandparents.
Smith was a prime suspect in a similar attack on a Redland Bay woman, Doris Dupain, 78, in 2008. According to investigating detectives, Mrs Dupain survived the assault and was willing to testify, however Smith’s ex-girlfriend provided him with an alibi and crucial DNA evidence was misplaced in the police laboratory.
The police spokesperson said there would be no such error this time round.
“We have collected incriminating DNA from both the victim and the suspect and this kind of data doesn’t lie. We expect to formally charge Smith within hours,” she said.
Mrs Johnston was a retired school music teacher who often played piano at community gatherings and on Sundays at the Moreton Uniting Church services.
“She was such an endearing person and very talented,” Ms Wallis said. “She didn’t deserve to die in such a horrible traumatic way.
“I have no doubt this Smith guy did it. He would hang around her place like a bad smell and always had a nasty look about him. My guess is that he preyed on lonely widows like this.”
A Google search reveals a David Smith from Cleveland was convicted of several drug offences in 2005 and aggravated assault of 74 year old Agnes Bethany Steele in 2003.
The arrest follows the Premier’s emotional address to Parliament last week vowing to “commit every possible resource to finding the monster who has done this”.
COMMENTS BY READERS (for you to moderate)
@Ragin’Randy: I’m a Moreton resident and I’ve seen this dude around. He had EVIL tattoed on his arm and trouble written all over him!
@214GraceJane: Edith was such an active member of our church group. We’ll miss her badly. RIP Edith.
@RoadRunner13: My husband works in police forensics and that’s not true about the lost DNA evidence. Either way, they’ve got him this time!
@RevSteveParish: God bless you Edith. You didn’t deserve this but you’re with our Lord now.
@DavyJones: Just hang the bastard and be done with it so we can get back to our fishing on Moreton.
Police arrest David Smith at his Cleveland address over the murder of Edith Johnston. Image: Creative Commons ©Chris Yarzab (fourbyfourblazer) https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisyarzab/5829988222
LEARNING PROBLEM 3:
You run a popular accommodation reviews website called ‘True Blue Reviews’ which is famous for its frank ratings of Australian hotels and motels. While you are happy to run critical – even scathing – reviews, you are very wary of defamation action and try to keep within the bounds of key defences. You are also wary of fake reviews posted by competitors trying to steer business from another hotel to their own. Two reviews of motels at the tiny fishing village of Dolphin Bay have been posted within the past few hours.
Fisherman’s Lodge – Rating 1/10 – The staff are so unfriendly we thought we were staying at Fawlty Towers. Bathroom plumbing is hanging out of the wall and the toilet hasn’t been scrubbed in weeks. Bed bugs big enough to use for bait. Our advice: ‘Dodge the Lodge’. – Steve and Penny Daltrone, Port Lincoln
Dolphin Delight – Rating 10/10 – The name says it all – it is sheer heaven for anyone wanting to enjoy the delights of Dolphin Bay. Smiling staff, sparkling amenities, and a welcoming hibiscus flower on the starched white linen. Home away from home, just metres from pristine waters. – Doris Parchley, Suffolk, United Kingdom.
Strangely, though, both comments were posted from the same computer IP address in – you guessed it – Dolphin Bay, Australia.
The assignment instructions will be attached for further reference.
This assignment needs to reference current AUSTRALIAN media laws and cite relevant legal cases.
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