Tim Crook







Utopian dreams for better journalism?

This paper outlines utopian dreams for better and happier journalism and analyses some of the crucial issues missing at the Leveson Inquiry as well as the libel reform that parliament failed to grasp. It examines critically the issues relating to restorative justice emerging from the ITN v Living Marxism libel case of 2000. It argues that restorative justice solutions to media harm and offence with constructive remedies that empower rather than diminish journalism are the only way to improve genuinely the culture of journalism ethics in Britain. It concludes that the 'cycle of punitive revenge' is destructive of the dignity as well as freedom of the media.

Keywords: journalism, ethics, restorative justice, media harm and offence


References

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Note on the contributor

Tim Crook is Visiting Professor of Broadcast Journalism in the faculty of English, Media and Performance of Birmingham City University and he holds the full-time appointment of Reader in Media and Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a journalist, broadcaster and author for almost 40 years and has written several books on media law, radio and journalism notably Comparative media law & ethics (2009) and The UK media law pocketbook (2013).