CAMPAIGN EVENT: “The impact of our libel laws on documentary film makers: what you don’t get to see”

Thursday 11 March, 6:30pm at the Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA

As part of the Big Libel Week, the Libel Reform Campaign will be hosting a free event on the effect of our libel laws on documentary film makers. Speakers include:

Tracy Worcester is a documentary film maker who directed and produced the film ‘Pig Business’. During the making of her film, Tracey was threatened with libel actions, and spent months re-editing her work. She will talk about how English libel law has affected her work.

Christopher Hird is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He runs Dartmouth Films, chairs the Channel Four Britdoc Foundation and a board member of Index on Censorship (www.indexoncensorship.org).

Duncan Campbell is an investigative journalist and filmmaker who specialises in privacy, civil liberties and secrecy issues. He has faced successive libel actions for 20 years. In 1976, he was the first journalist to reveal the existence of intelligence agency GCHQ. As a result, the government attempted to jail him for up to 30 years for breaking official secrecy laws. The prosecution failed.

There will be a screening of an extract from the film ‘Pig Business’.

This is a FREE event. Phone 0207 324 2570 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , to book your place.

239 MPs have signed EDM 423 supporting reform of our libel laws - has yours?

These MPs have not signed up to our campaign... yet!

The science writer Simon Singh is fighting to defend his right to freedom of speech. And he's far from alone as companies from around the world are increasingly trying to use England's libel laws to quash academic critics.

by Sarah Boseley, The Guardian

Earlier this week, a mild-mannered freelance science writer stood on the steps of London's imposing Royal Courts of Justice and declared his determination, come what may, to stand up for free speech against what he and an ever-swelling contingent of scientists, public figures and celebrities believe is the oppressive burden of the UK's libel laws.

Simon Singh, science writer and co-author of a book about alternative medicine, provoked a libel suit from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) ­after a piece was published in the Guardian's comment pages. He may now make history.

In the venerable stone building, three of England's most senior judges listened to his case and are now deliberating over its merits. The line-up of Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Lord Justice Sedley has led some commentators to believe the issues around ­science writing and libel are suddenly being taken very seriously indeed in ­legal circles. Many hope that the judges' ruling, when it comes, will loosen what they argue are draconian restrictions on freedom of speech.

Singh is still in the early stages of the libel suit, fighting over the meaning of the words he used about the BCA, whom he accused of supporting "bogus" treatments for children. Mr Justice Eady, in a preliminary ruling that ­provoked a storm of protest, ruled that what Singh wrote was fact, not comment, and that to justify it, he would have to prove the association's members were dishonest. Singh says he never ­intended that ­interpretation. The big guns in the court of appeal must now decide whether Eady's interpretation should stand.

BRIEFING NOTE: Libel Reform Campaign response to the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee report

The Libel Reform Campaign led by English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science welcomes the report by a group of influential MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport select committee as “a great starting point to ensure an unprecedented overhaul of our libel laws”.

The campaign is also delighted that John Whittingdale MP, the Chair, acknowledged the concerns outlined by Sense About Science in their “Keep Libel Laws Out of Science” campaign, and of Index on Censorship and English PEN in their ‘Free Speech Is Not For Sale’ report.

After the Libel Reform Campaign galvanised 35,000 supporters and persuaded 206 MPs to sign a Parliamentary Early Day Motion, the Select Committee put forward the following recommendations: