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Legal Advice for Your Environmental Blog – Part 2

June 29, 2011 By

So, you are well on your way to getting your environmental blog started up.  You have picked a theme, compiled your research and you are ready to start spreading the news.  You know that defaming another person’s character can get you into serious trouble and that you have the role of a journalist so media law often applies to you.  The difference is that most journalists work in a team with legal support and fact checkers as well as editors and contributions from a number of people.  Your blog is more about your perspective.
The general rule of thumb is that everything you post comes from you or is sourced off the net.  This means you are often at a disadvantage.  Even more dangerously, you may want to publish thoughts or a story on high profile figures but which government would often control.  This can be a very good thing but could also mean severe consequences for you as an author.  So you need to always ensure that you are protected whilst still getting the message across.
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech is a tricky issue.  Not only is it a way of expressing ideas freely but also a practice that has limitations.  Most people think that they can say whatever they want to under the broad umbrella of freedom of expression.  However, freedom of expression does not extend to speech that is hateful, dishonest, unjustifiably defaming or created with unnecessarily harmful intent.
Being Objective
It is extremely difficult to try and be objective when dealing with something that you are passionate about.  However, retaining some level of objectivity is essential when it comes to getting your point across.  The final decision should be left in the mind of the reader.  By trying to be as objective as possible, you will be less likely to get into legal battles because you are not necessarily enforcing your own ideas.  You are instead, allowing readers to make up their own minds by presenting them with facts in an entertaining and engaging way.  Subjectivity has a place in things like fashion blogs and humor pieces but environmental blogs should send a clear message without it having to be hammered in.
Your Rights
However, after all is said and done, you also have the right to keep your anonymity and not divulge who you are by name on your blogs.  There are a number of organizations who are working to protect this.  If what you are saying is legitimate and incriminating, you will find that outside claims and threats will flood in (especially from the culprits).  It is your right to inform the public of wrongdoings or suspicious behavior without leading them to an ended conclusion.  If you know that dolphins are being slaughtered in Japan and that the high mercury content in their meat is being fed to parts of the Japanese population, you can share this.  You must however, have solid evidence to back up your claims.

Thanks to a friend (you know who you are) for the info which enabled me to write this article and also to the no win no fee solicitor who recently helped me out.

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Legal Advice for Your Environmental Blog – Part 1

June 29, 2011 By

So you’ve joined the cause and want to get started with educating people about the effects of their carbon footprint and some of the ways in which they can help to play Captain Planet.  You have an important issue that needs to be discussed and you can’t wait to put your pen to digital paper and get the news out there.  This is a worthy effort and certainly something that the world needs more of but there are some limitations to what you can say and the ways in which you get your information and other content.

You must be aware of using other people’s work and rather try to generate work on your own.  Your content and fresh perspective is what’s really going to lend strength to your blog so take the time to create that content by yourself.  Make sure that you understand all the ins and outs before embarking on your project because you don’t want your efforts to be overshadowed by legal battles and repercussions.
Blogging is a Media Tool
Although a lot of bloggers prefer not to be seen as part of the media, they usually are.  As long as blogs are being viewed by audiences and are used to entertain, inform and cover current topics, they have a similar function to the media with a different method of implementation.  Your environmental blog fits into this category and is likely to ask audiences to scrutinize certain institutions, which means that you are particularly at risk.
The global media is a regulated industry with its own set of ethical rules, watchdogs, regulatory bodies and policing.  Because of the rise in popularity of blogs in the digital age, many of the rules relevant to media are also filtering into online content.  These rules and legalities relate mostly to content use, advertising, ethics, profanity, accuracy, rights, defamation and libel (written slander).  In many cases, content on the internet has been known to jeopardize future job opportunities for bloggers, despite being promoted as a tool to enhance a writer’s portfolio.
Defamation
One of the biggest issues with blog comments and publishing is the fact that there is a certain level of anonymity.  In these cases, audience members feel comfortable “saying” exactly what is on their mind which can often lead to the defamation of another person’s character and some extremely insulting remarks.  While there is freedom of expression to consider, it is also important that you never attack someone’s character (whether they are an individual, an organization, a business or a community) without having adequate evidence of what you are saying.
It helps to take ethics into account here as well.  You may know for a fact that so and so slept with so and so but you must respect their right to privacy before deciding to post the pictures up on the net and potentially destroying lives or breaking down their character.  There is such a thing as a blogger’s code of conduct, which will allow you a number of guidelines as to what your environmental blog can cover.

This post is courtesy of Eco Seo a specialist seo Swindon, to find them just search Google or your favorite search engine for seo Swindon.

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Legal Advice ?

June 1, 2011 By

Just wondering if any of the regular readers here have any experience or advice about using a solicitor. It’s not something which I had really considered before, being a typical law biding soul.

However I had an accident recently (although a friend suggested not referring to it as an accident as this can imply that nobody was at fault) which has left me with a broken ankle, this in turn has stopped me doing my job as I drive most of the time.  However my boss has said that the company can’t afford top pay me for all this time off.  It could be up to 12 weeks before I can drive again according to the hospital, and even then, they said I wouldn’t be able to drive all day every day for even longer.

As you probably understand this leaves me in a somewhat difficult situation, as if work will not pay me, I certainly can’t afford to live on benefits and I doubt very much that they would pay my mortgage for me anyway, which just leaves the option of getting some legal help to sue the council, not something I would ordinarily consider, however this whole situation has left me rather skint.

The accident happened because I was walking back to my car carying a rather large heavy item which did obscure my vision somewhat, as I walked on a footpath there was a big chunk of the paving slab missing, my foot went in, my ankle rolled over and hey presto, broken ankle. Just to rub salt into the wound, I also got a parking ticket for overstaying at the car park too before a friend could get down there to move it for me.

So I’ve heard all about these no win no fee solicitors, even more so now after having a few days at home in front of daytime tv, but are they any good? Some are specialist personal injury lawyers, some clinical negligence and some seem to cover everything. Could I just walk into my local solicitors in swindon and ask them? And, probably most importantly are there really no fees at all?  I can imagine there is some loophole where they can charge some legal fees, or do they just claim their court costs from the other party?  These are all the things I am trying to understand before I launch right into it.

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