Peter Noorlander of the Media Legal Defence Initiative has a post up on Index on Censorship warning that the European Court of Human Rights must reject Max Mosley’s prior notification action or risk grave consequences for the free media.
Such a rule would be disastrous for investigative reporting of all kinds — by the media as well as by NGOs. It would mean that a local paper that has been leaked documents showing corruption in the local council, for example, would be forced to notify those named in the story. The subjects would without doubt take out an injunction, probably on grounds of breach of confidence, and the story could not be published for months…