The Meaning of the ‘Public Interest’ and ‘Journalistic Purpose’ in a Media Law Environment
The Bonavero Institute for Human Rights (Oxford) and the Digital Speech Lab (UCL) invite submissions for a workshop that will probe the meaning of the ‘public interest’ defence and ‘journalistic purpose’ exemption available to the media, citizen journalists, and others. The workshop will be held at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford, on Wednesday, 10 June 2026.
Workshop Overview
There is no single definition of the ‘public interest’ or of ‘journalistic purpose’ in the domestic law in England & Wales, yet a ‘public interest’ defence and ‘journalistic purpose’ exemption are both available to a variety of civil law claims (e.g., defamation, misuse of private information, breach of confidence, copyright, etc.), criminal law provisions (e.g., contempt, etc.), and regulatory regimes (e.g., the GDPR/Data Protection Act, the Online Safety Act, etc.).
The definition of what is ‘in the public interest’ is very subjective and context based. It is often poorly defined and applied ad hoc. The way that these defences/exemptions are approached by courts is also different. In some cases, the court imposes a subjective element, requiring consideration of the ‘reasonable belief’ of the journalist, and in other cases, the court may impose an objective element. The court may also defer to ‘editorial discretion’. The defence/exemption can at times be expansive, and at other times narrow. In most cases the burden of proof is on the journalist or media organisation to make the defence good.
With the advent of online communications, social media platforms are also devising ‘public interest’ exemptions in platform policies. These exemptions direct moderators to leave up content that would otherwise violate a platform rule and be removed, so long as that content is ‘newsworthy’, is for a ‘journalistic purpose’, is for the purpose of ‘condemnation’, or otherwise raises awareness about a matter ‘in the public interest’. These definitions are also often poorly defined and applied ad hoc and ex post, raising serious concerns about arbitrary decision-making.
The aim of the workshop is to gather legal scholars, philosophers, lawyers, and policy-makers to interrogate and discuss the meaning of the ‘public interest’ and ‘journalistic purpose’ in cases concerning media law and freedom of expression.
Call for Submissions
We welcome submissions from those working on these issues in the domestic law of England & Wales, in other comparative jurisdictions, and in relation to online platform policies and the regulation of social media and online data.
We are interested in receiving three types of submissions: (a) a short ‘lightening talk’ of around 5-7 minutes long that highlights a key area of the law, as identified above, and offers a solution, insight, or intervention (e.g., this could include a key case analysis by a barrister/scholar or an analysis of a particular legislative provision, etc.); (b) a work-in progress paper or research question that will be briefly presented to the group and opened for wider discussion, or (c) a completed or nearly completed paper (note that you are not required to send in a completed paper).
For those interested in presenting, please submit:
· your name and contact details;
· the title of your presentation;
· whether you are submitting: (a) a lightening talk, (b) a work-in-progress/research question, or (c) a completed paper;
· an abstract of up to 300 words; and
· a short bio of up to 150 words.
Please send your submission to Gill Phillips and Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt to r.gerbrandt@ucl.ac.uk
The deadline for submissions is Friday 10 April 2026. We aim to send notifications of acceptance by April 17 2026.
The workshop is organised by:
Gill Phillips, Freelance editorial content lawyer, Research Visitor (Trinity Term 2026) Bonavero Instiute of Human Rights, Oxford
Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt, Media lawyer (Canada) and Fellow in Law & Platform Governance at the Digital Speech Lab, UCL