Twitter image Keir Starmer: "There is a bit of work to do about making sure everybody appreciates what the limits are" on social media Credit: Rosaura Ochoa on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
Today the director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer called on news outlets to take part in a consultation over interim guidelines on the prosecution of journalists and the public interest.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk he also emphasised the equal importance for online publishers to engage with the process, and feed back their opinions on the effectiveness of the interim guidelines.

"This is something for anybody who engages in freedom of expression or imparting information and that's really important," he said.

"It applies to social media, to online reporting, and one of the things we have not done in the guidelines, is to define journalists, because that's not easy to define and we didn't want to run into problems of definition.

"This is going to apply to anybody really who is writing or commenting in whatever form."

He also highlighted the impact of the internet more generally, in particular the use of social media for digital communications and the possible issues around the legal awareness of those using these platforms.

"The internet has had a major impact and in a sense it's created through social media a whole new channel of communications, one in which lots of people who might not previously have been able to air a view can now do so, that's good I think in a modern democracy."

But, there are two consequences, he added.

Does everybody who is using the social media fully appreciate what the limits of the law are and that it's not a law free zone?Keir Starmer
"One, does everybody who is using the social media fully appreciate what the limits of the law are and that it's not a law free zone? And second, the speed with which things can be communicated is obviously that much quicker, which means that sometimes ill-considered views are put out speedily, whereas with the more traditional paper media, if you like, it might have taken a bit more time."

He added that while these developments in the reporting of news and comment are a positive step for the media, "there is a bit of work to do about making sure everybody appreciates what the limits are and we all collectively have to deal with the speed with which communications are now exchanged."

In particular, when it comes to social media, he said there needs to be "an appreciation that, for example, court orders that restrict publication of certain details apply to social media".

There is "sometimes a sense they only apply to formal or more traditional press, and that can lead to difficulties", he added.

"I'm not sure everybody who uses social media is really clear that they are subject to the law in that way so there's a bit of education there that needs to go on, in terms of how social media is used.

"I don't think it should be a heavy-handed exercise, I think it could be an inclusive exercise but otherwise people may find themselves the wrong side of the law, without actually appreciating that they shouldn't have done what they did."

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