Media Law

Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell

Authors: Peter Carey, Nick Armstrong, David Lamont & James Quartermaine

Price: £26.95

Edition: 5th Edition (June 2010)

ISBN: 978-0-414-04213-1

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Media Law is now in its fifth edition, and comes only fourteen years since the first edition was published in 1996.  This is, perhaps, the best example of how fast-moving media law is.  It straddles a number of distinct areas of law from advertising to intellectual property to defamation. Without texts on media law, students and practitioners would be left looking for answers through a number of different legal topics.  Media Law has, over the years, gained a reputation as an excellent introductory text which tackles the difficulties of a wide-ranging subject matter like media law.

Written by Peter Carey, an experienced media lawyer, together with three media lawyers from Charles Russell LLP's well-respected media team, Media Law is split into ten chapters: introduction to the law; reputation; copyright and related rights; privacy and confidential information; obscenity and indecency; racial hatred and blasphemy; contempt; reporting current affairs; the internet; and television.  It also includes an excellent glossary, defining many important phrases and words, and a number of very useful appendices.

Media Law aims to provide a succinct and lucid introduction to all areas of the law relating to print, broadcast and electronic media.  Its main target audience is law and media students but it also has a reputation as an invaluable introductory text for lawyers.  The student focus of media law is obvious from the first chapter: the English legal system is clearly and succinctly explained including, for example, excellent diagrams of the Court structure and an explanation of whether or not a Court's decision binds other Courts.  Throughout the rest of the text, the authors' collective experience means that Media Law expertly summarises the law in short and manageable sections.

For anyone studying media law, or practitioners who do not deal with this law on a daily basis, Media Law is an excellent addition to their library.  It explains the law clearly and concisely.  It makes excellent use of bullet lists and diagrams to explain principles in a clear way.  Another excellent feature is the selection of decisions from Ofcom: these explain how Ofcom has applied the Codes to various complaints or regulatory challenges.  This gives the reader a flavour of what Ofcom considers a breach of the Code and what it does not.  The price of Media Law, at less than £30, also means it is excellent value for money.

Reviewed on 27 December 2011

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