[kictanet] Media council Draft bill 2010 (Day Seven--Complaints and Dispute Resolution)

[toby at law-democracy.org]

Hi all,

My comments on this round:

1)	I agree the chair should not be required to be a lawyer but I think it
is clear that the Council will appoint the chair and that is OK with me.

2)	I think it is OK not to specify how they will publish the the decision.
Surely it is understood that this will at least be on their website. The
main point is that they make it public so that those with an interest can
follow-up. This is not something that will usually be of very wide public
interest. Related to this, publication in the Official Gazette is to
ensure formal legal publication of the decision. It seems OK to me.

3)	I am also OK with the decisions of the Complaints Commission having
legal force. For me, what is important here is the sanctions (see s. 30),
which may only be an apology and/or reprimand. I don't like the idea of an
apology, which I find offensive to the (absolute) freedom to hold
opinions. So I would replace this with a requirement to carry a statement
by the Commission (ie to the effect that a decision has gone against you
and for what reasons).

4)	I have another serious problem with the complaints process, however.
Pursuant to s. 27, anyone who is 'aggrieved' may complain about any
publication or conduct of a journalist. The Commission will then reject or
uphold such complaint. But the Bill nowhere indicates the standards
against which such a complaint should be judged. This effectively leaves
it up to the unfettered discretion of the members of the Commission to
decide and leaves journalists and the media open to being held in breach
of a standard that was never communicated to them, which is clearly
inappropriate.

Instead, complaints should be judged against an established a code of
conduct to be adopted by the Council, after consultation with interested
stakeholders. It could, theoretically, be the Code in the second schedule,
except that this is not appropriate for this purpose (eg it is not
appropriate for anyone to complain that a journalist has not defended the
independence of the media, as required by section 2 of this Code). Also,
the Code should not be legislated but should emerge from the consultation.

Best wishes, Toby



___________________________________
Toby Mendel

Centre for Law and Democracy
toby at law-democracy.org
Tel:  +1 902 431-3688
Fax: +1 902 431-3689
www.law-democracy.org