Impacts of Legal Issues

Legal considerations exist to protect individuals from three different kinds of harm: privacy rules guard against intrusion, defamation law guards against false statements, and data protection guards against the misuse of personal information. Ignoring them harms the person involved and creates consequences for the media producer.

Impact on individuals

Publishing inaccurate personal information can damage someone's reputation and cause genuine distress. Anyone can be affected, not just famous people. If a community radio station wrongly names a volunteer as the person who took money from a charity stall, that volunteer is harmed in front of friends, family and future employers, and the story may follow them online for years. Personal data handled carelessly causes a different harm: a young performer whose date of birth and school name are published in a behind-the-scenes blog loses control of details that were only collected to check they were old enough to take part.

Impact on media producers

If inaccurate personal information you publish is a false statement that damages someone's reputation, it is defamation. In written or published form it is libel, and the person can take the producer to court and claim compensation. A data protection breach — for example, reusing an old sign-up list to send marketing emails about a new release to people who only agreed to be contacted about audition dates — can lead to fines and legal action. Producers also risk reputational damage: audiences, contributors and clients stop trusting an organisation known for publishing inaccurate information about people or losing their details.