{"id":413,"date":"2009-12-10T22:16:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2009\/12\/10\/libel_reform_campaign_reform\/"},"modified":"2009-12-10T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T22:16:15","slug":"libel_reform_campaign_reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2009\/12\/10\/libel_reform_campaign_reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Libel Reform Campaign Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prospects for much-needed changes to the outdated libel laws of England and Wales received a fresh impulse in the past couple of days as Sense about Science<\/a>, the Index on Censorship<\/a> and English PEN<\/a> joined together to lobby as the Coalition for Libel Reform.<\/p>\n

\tThe coalition has just re-launched the campaign for reform with a flurry of publicity<\/a> to ensure that the laws are reset to maintain protection from defamation but without placing any disproportionate burden of proof on defendents. (I was fortunate to be invited to Wednesday’s celeb-packed launch<\/a> but synchrotron duty, alas, prevented me from attending!)<\/p>\n

\t\"Free-speech\"<\/a>
\n_The campaign for libel reform<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\tAs we have seen<\/a>, reform is necessary to release scientific discourse from the deadening effect of libel laws that make it too easy for wealthy individuals and organisations to silence critics with the mere threat of a libel suit. I’ve been banging on about this recently<\/a>. And Nature<\/em> has also lent support<\/a> to the campaign for change.<\/p>\n

\tThe celebrated case of the science writer Simon Singh, who is being sued for libel for an article in the Guardian, sparked Sense About Science\u2019s campaign for scientific and academic freedom from libel threats. Impressively, that campaign<\/a> has racked up nearly 20,000 supporters, including scientists, authors, broadcasters and lawyers.<\/p>\n

\tBut now the push for libel reform is stepping up a gear and will be working to develop a much broader base of support. The new coalition aims to reach 100,000 or more signatories to ensure that politicians truly understand the level of public support for a change in the law. There are already encouraging signs of sympathetic responses from members of the three leading parties but the new campaign is determined to convert that initial momentum into a powerful political imperative for reform.<\/p>\n

\tOne immediate step that those in the UK can take is to sign the new petition<\/a> (even if you have already put your mark to the earlier Sense about Science petition!). I’ve already done so and would urge you to do the same.<\/p>\n

\tAnd, if you can locate pen, paper, envelope and a stamp, write<\/em> to your MP<\/a> to impress on them the need for reform. The petition web-site will allow you to email a form letter to your MP but I think that the more personal you can make your case, the more impact it is likely to have with your parliamentary representative. The campaign launched with lobbying of parliament today by academics, medical and science editors, human rights activists and writers, but that will only be the beginning.<\/p>\n

\tAnd that’s not all. Those of us with a university affiliation can spread the word at work to raise support for the campaign. I was pleased to see that Malcolm Grant, the Provost of UCL has declared his support<\/a>. I want to see if my own institution, Imperial College, will also give its backing to the campaign.<\/p>\n

\tThis won’t be my last word on the matter. Check out blog posts by JackofKent<\/a> for a more legal insight into proceedings, or follow the hashtag #libelreform<\/a> on Twitter to keep up with the campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The prospects for much-needed changes to the outdated libel laws of England and Wales received a fresh impulse in the past couple of days as Sense about Science, the Index on Censorship and English PEN joined together to lobby as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}