The Michaelmas Legal Term began on Thursday 1 October 2026 and will run to Monday 21 December 2026.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore journalists’ access to the White House on Sept. 24, 2026. As he had in a similar case in 2018, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly decided the revocation of the reporters’ press passes likely violated their Fifth Amendment right to due process.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

The Press Justice Project supports people affected by press abuse and campaigns for higher standards across journalism. On 13 October, it will be bringing that work into focus with an event looking at the ways women are treated by the media, as targets of discrimination in press coverage, and as journalists in the newsroom.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

This post covers developments since the last weekly Law and Media Round Up on 3 August 2026.  The summer legal vacation will run until Thursday 1 October 2026 when the Michaelmas Legal Term will begin. Our next weekly round up will be on 5 October 2026.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Professor Arday is not the first to be viciously hounded by the rabid press. I doubt he will be the last. To end this brutal cycle of tragedy, we need politicians brave enough to overcome their cowardice and implement mandatory, independent press regulation that tackles press malpractice but preserves press freedom.

In a judgment handed down today, Mr Justice Nicklin made an order that the claimants  in the case of Baroness Lawrence & Ors v Associated Newspapers pay the costs of the action to be assessed on the indemnity basis ([2026] EWHC 2207 (KB)) .

The sense of public outrage about the late Professor Jason Arday’s treatment by the press is palpable. The government would do well to listen. As Newscord reports, Professor Arday was the subject of 249 articles in 22 days.

How much of what you see on social media comes from sources that repeatedly post falsehoods? And if that content quietly vanished from your feed, would you believe anything different months later?

Media lawyer and author Jonathan Coad recently complained to IPSO about a Telegraph article entitled “Hacked Off Hugh Grant pushes Andy Burnham to curb free speech”.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

In the early 20th Century, the Sunday Chronicle, a newspaper owned by E. Hulton & Co, published a satirical travel piece about a festival in Dieppe, France.  The article referred to an individual named Artemus Jones, an Englishman who it was alleged had come over to the festival in Dieppe and was carrying on an adulterous affair with a French woman.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Though it has many legitimate uses, the dark side of deepfake technology has once again been highlighted by Labour MP Jess Asato’s current claim against Elon Musk’s xAI for its Grok feature which produced fake sexualised images of her.

In his article on the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Vince v Associated Newspapers Ltd EWCA Civ 899, Sean Sutherland warns, forebodingly, that the “striking decision risks undercutting the law of defamation, which has grown incrementally to balance the interests of freedom of expression and of reputation” and adding “uncertainty into the law.”

The Trinity Legal Term ended on Friday 31 July 2026.  The summer legal vacation will run until Thursday 1 October 2026 when the Michaelmas Legal Term will begin.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

The Trinity Legal Term ends on Friday 31 July 2026.  The summer legal vacation will run until Thursday 1 October 2026 when the Michaelmas Legal Term will begin.

One year after the decision in Walters v OpenAI (Case No. 23-A-04860-2) , the case remains one of the most significant judicial examinations of how traditional defamation principles apply to generative AI, albeit in a U.S. context.

This month’s Mail Newspapers judgment in the case brought by Prince Harry and others was a comprehensive defeat for the claimants EWHC 1637 (KB). The judge found that, in relation to every one of the 57 pleaded articles, the claimants had failed to prove that Mail journalists had used unlawful information gathering (UIG).

On Wednesday 15 July 2026, the Court of Appeal (Vos MR, Warby LJ and Whipple LJ) handed down judgement in the appeal of Vince v ANL EWCA Civ 899. Eco entrepreneur, Dale Vince brought a defamation and subsequent data protection claim against Associated Newspapers in relation to the publication of an article which juxtaposed his photograph with a headline referring to a "sex pest" Labour donor, despite the article itself relating to another individual.

On 15 July 2026, the Court of Appeal handed down an important judgment in Vince v Associated Newspapers ( EWCA Civ 899). This decision establishes, for the first time, that a person can sue a newspaper under data protection law for an “unfair” article even if, under the law of defamation, there is no claim.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Google to identify every cellphone in the area using cell location history. Dubbed a “geofence search,” officers obtain a warrant that permits a multistep, give-and-take information sharing process between officers and tech employees that winnows down and identifies subjects.

On 7 July 2026, Mr Justice Nicklin handed down judgment following the lengthy trial of the misuse of private information and breach of confidence claims brought by seven Claimants against Associated Newspapers Limited (“Associated”), the publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline; Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE & Ors v Associated Newspapers Limited EWHC 1637 (KB).

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

The UK’s immigration and asylum bill has proposed restricting how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted and applied in the UK to make it easier to deport migrants.

Mr Justice Nicklin today handed down judgment following the trial of misuse of private information and breach of confidence claims brought by seven Claimants against Associated Newspapers Limited (“Associated”), the publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. The 46-day trial of the action took place between 19 January and 31 March 2026. 

The punk-rap duo Bob Vylan has filed defamation proceedings against the BBC in the High Court in Ireland, following its coverage of their 2025 Glastonbury performance, which the broadcaster described as containing “anti-Semitic sentiments.”

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Since the Leveson Report was published in 2012, exposing a collapse in ethical standards across the press, most national newspapers have adopted a similar stance: objection to the very principle of accountability.

The UK Constitutional Law blog has an article on the recent decision from the Court of Appeal reinstating the proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000, Secretary of State for the Home Department v R (Huda Ammori)  EWCA Civ 721.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

On 16 June 2026 Baroness Stowell introduced the Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation Bill (“the Bill”) into the House of Lords. An identical bill has been introduced in the House of Commons by Sir John Whittingdale MP.

Parallel Private Members’ Bills which are said to be aimed at tackling Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) were introduced in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons by Baroness Stowell and Sir John Whittingdale MP.

American supermodel Tyra Banks faces an uphill battle – perhaps the greatest one since she tried launching “hot ice cream” in Sydney.  Banks is suing Netflix and the directors of Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, a docuseries released by the streamer in February.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Britain deserves a better press, with standards that put the public first. Phone hacking, lies and the abuse of ordinary people. Disinformation on critical public issues, from climate change to immigration. Harassment and bullying of the bereaved and victims of crime.

As the UK prepares to introduce an “Australia plus” ban on social media for under 16s, many lessons can be learned from Australia’s experiment. Many people may think Australia’s ban is a success, with nearly 5 million social media accounts deactivated, removed or restricted. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has today announced a Australian-style ban for Teenagers under the age of 16 from accessing “high-risk” social media apps while safer platforms will be subjected to restrictions. There will blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication with children for under-16s.  These proposals were made after a consultation on keeping children safe online. There was…

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

While broadcasters and social media platforms are overseen by Ofcom, the rest of the media – newspapers and their websites – remain unregulated.   Instead, most newspaper publishers are in IPSO, a complaints body controlled by the press itself, which has a dire record of failing to protect the public since it was established over ten years ago.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

Donald Trump’s legal team has refused to provide financial records requested by the BBC in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit over a Panorama documentary about the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots. Trump claims the programme damaged his reputation and business interests by misleadingly editing parts of a speech he gave before the unrest.