As the footballer Joey Barton has been in the news this week due to his tweeting about the John Terry court case, it has got me thinking about whether the likes of Facebook and Twitter should be subjected to the same rules that newspapers have to adhere to when it comes to reporting.
As the law stands, newspapers cannot report anything that could be deemed to be in contempt of court, and could prejudice the outcome of the case.
So how is it one rule for the newspapers and one for social media?
You only need to look online to see that the laws need updating. With the uprising of social media platforms, the ordinary man on the street can tweet his opinions to a worldwide audience, or chat in inter-national forums discussing what they think about things going on in the news.
Doing exactly the same thing that newspapers wouldn’t even dream of doing.
As absolutely anyone can have a Facebook or a Twitter account, we can’t expect everyone to know the ins and outs of media law and what they can and cannot say.
You’d think people would have a modicum of common sense and use their brain when it comes to writing, though.
Maybe we should have a social media Rule Book:
-No chatting about things that are going through the courts as we speak. Especially not proffering your own opinions on them.
-No speculation on anything. Even if you think ‘Yes, the Butler did it’, or you’re adamant you really DO know who shot the Sheriff or JR, keep schtum.
-When it comes to writing on Facebook, you are not down the pub chatting with your mates. You’ve published it and your thoughts, opinions and ramblings are now out there in the worldwide domain. Especially if you’re daft enough not to have any privacy settings set in place.
-Untrue remarks in the written form is libel. So Facebook jokes about Joe Bloggs liking sheep/slept with 300 people should be a no go area. You only need Joe Bloggs to not see the funny side and take it seriously and you’ve potentially landed yourself in the do do legally.
So what should be done about it? The laws need updating to incorporate the boom in new media platforms such as Twitter, and the fact that the general public now has a potentially world wide audience that they never had before.
What do you think?
