Fundamental Law for Journalists
New!
Journalists will come across many arcane and sometimes obtuse legal concepts in the course of their work. Law is not an intuitive thing. It has developed over a millennium, and its basic rules often don’t seem logical — or even fair. Fundamental Law for Journalists gives journalists a primer on criminal and civil law, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, public law, legal research tools, and basic procedure. This book also examines the newest media source protection laws, defamation defences, and the laws against strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). Author Mark Bourrie has created this book as a guide to help journalists get the law right.
It’s also useful for editors, students, politically involved Canadians — including legislative assistants and activists — and anyone else who wants to know the legal rules that we live by.
Contributors
Mark Bourrie
Mark Bourrie holds a master’s degree in journalism and a PhD in media history (with a thesis on press censorship in the Second World War), as well as completing a diploma program in public policy and a Juris Doctor degree. He was a journalist from 1978 until 2017. His newspaper journalism appeared in most major Canadian papers, and his magazine articles were published by, among others, Toronto Life, Saturday Night, Maclean’s, Canadian Business, Canadian Lawyer, The National, and Ottawa Magazine. Mark won a National Magazine Award and was a four-time nominee. He was also nominated for a National Newspaper Award and won several Ontario Newspaper Awards. Mark taught journalism and media studies at Concordia University from 2007–2009. In 2020, he was awarded the RBC Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction for his bestselling book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. Mark is a member of the bar of Ontario, concentrating on cases that have a nexus between law and politics, and on media law. He continues to write non-fiction books and rather infrequent op-ed pieces.