Journal of International Media & Entertainment
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JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW PUBLISHED BY THE DONALD E. BIEDERMAN ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LAW INSTITUTE OF SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION FORUMS ON COMMUNICATIONS LAW AND THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS INDUSTRIES Volume 7, Number 1 2016–2017 SYMPOSIUM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS ON THE GLOBAL STAGE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE EDITOR’S NOTE ARTICLES From Sweden to the Global Stage: FOI as European Human Right? David Goldberg Why the French FOIA “Failed” Tom McClean Sunlight Where It’s Needed: The Case for Freedom of Media Information Roy Peled Legislating Usability: Freedom of Information Laws That Help Users Identify What They Want Mark Weiler JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW Volume 7 Number 1 2016–2017 PUBLISHED BY THE DONALD E. BIEDERMAN ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LAW INSTITUTE OF SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION FORUMS ON COMMUNICATIONS LAW AND THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS INDUSTRIES Mission Statement: The Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law is a semi- annual publication of the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute of Southwestern Law School in association with the American Bar Association Forums on Communications Law and the Entertainment and Sports Industries. The Journal provides a forum for exploring the complex and unsettled legal principles that apply to the production and distribution of media and entertainment in an international, comparative, and local context. The legal issues surrounding the creation and dissemination of news and entertainment products on a worldwide basis necessarily implicate the laws, customs, and practices of multiple jurisdictions. The Journal examines the impact of the Internet and other technologies, the often-conflicting laws affecting media and entertainment issues, and the legal ramifications of widely divergent cultural views of privacy, defamation, intellectual property, and government regulation. Subscriptions: Print subscriptions are available at an annual rate of $US 50 (domestic) or $US 60 (foreign). Please direct inquiries to the Biederman Institute at Southwestern Law School, 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90010, (213) 738-6602, or send an email to [email protected]. Back issues are available for $US 30.00 per copy plus $US 5.95 for shipping and handling. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the articles published in the Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute, Southwestern Law School, the American Bar Association, the Forum on Communications Law, or the Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. Law School: For information about the Biederman Institute or Southwestern Law School, please contact Professor Robert Lind and Professor Neil Ollivierra, Southwestern Law School, 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90010, (213) 738-6842, or send an email to [email protected]. Membership: For information about membership in the Forum on Communications Law or the Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, please contact the ABA Service Center, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60654-7598, (800) 285-2211, or send an email to [email protected]. Permission to Reprint: Requests to reproduce portions of this issue must be submitted by email to [email protected]. Submission Guidelines: Submission guidelines are printed on the inside back cover of each issue. © 2017 Southwestern Law School The Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law is published twice a year by Southwestern Law School, in cooperation with the American Bar Association. ISSN: 1556-875X. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Biederman Institute at Southwestern Law School, 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90010. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE LOCAL VOLUME 7 NUMBER 1 2016–2017 SUPERVISING EDITOR Michael M. Epstein Southwestern Law School BOARD OF EDITORS Janine Small, Chair Carolyn Forrest, Chair ABA Forum on the ABA Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries Communications Law Peter Bartlett Kevin Goering Nathan Siegel Minter Ellison Lawyers Norwick, Schad & Goering Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz Eric S. Brown David Goldberg Mark Stephens Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo, P.C. University of London Howard Kennedy LLP Chunghwan Choi Robert Lutz John Tehranian Lee & Ko Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School J. Alexandra Darraby Michael Scott Cydney A. Tune The Art Law Firm Southwestern Law School Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP Silvia Faerman Brian A. Rosenblatt Kurt Wimmer Southwestern Law School Bryce, Downey & Lenkov LLC Covington & Burling, LLP Jeff Gewirtz Kyu Ho Youm NETS Basketball/Brooklyn University of Oregon Sports & Entertainment SUPERVISING STUDENT EDITOR Emily A. Rehm STUDENT EDITORS Harmony Anderson Jessica Lusk Nadia Sokolova Charlie Wang Chiara Genovese Inez Morales Jason Souza Alexa Whiteside Shahab Elliot Hakakzadeh Jaclyn Ponish Christina Steele Nikta Yazdi Shelby Luchesi-Gallaher Ashley Ramos Aldwin Tañala PUBLISHED BY THE DONALD E. BIEDERMAN ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LAW INSTITUTE OF SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION FORUMS ON COMMUNICATIONS LAW AND THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS INDUSTRIES JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE LOCAL VOLUME 7 NUMBER 1 2016–2017 SYMPOSIUM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS ON THE GLOBAL STAGE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Contents vii Editor’s Note MICHAEL M. EPSTEIN ARTICLES 1 From Sweden to the Global Stage: FOI as European Human Right? DAVID GOLDBERG 31 Why the French FOIA “Failed” TOM MCCLEAN 65 Sunlight Where It’s Needed: The Case for Freedom of Media Information ROY PELED 101 Legislating Usability: Freedom of Information Laws That Help Users Identify What They Want MARK WEILER PUBLISHED BY THE DONALD E. BIEDERMAN ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LAW INSTITUTE OF SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION FORUMS ON COMMUNICATIONS LAW AND THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS INDUSTRIES Editor’s Note I am pleased to report that our November 2016 conference, Freedom of Information Laws on the Global Stage: Past Present and Future, exceeded our expectations in both attendance and presentations. As a result, Volume 7 of JIMEL will be entirely devoted to scholarship generated by the symposium, which attracted practitioners and scholars from every continent except Antarctica. This issue contains four articles that underscore the diversity of scholarship that was present at the Freedom of Information Conference. The first article, From Sweden to the Global Stage: FOI as a European Human Right? by U.K.-based media law professor David Goldberg, sets the stage for the historical context of the conference. A groundbreaking scholar on the history of freedom of information laws, Professor Goldberg poses the question: Does the European Court of Human Rights have an opportunity to declare freedom of information as a stand-alone human right? Tom McClean, in Why the French FOIA Law Failed, argues that France’s 1978 statute has effectively been a “failure,” despite its similarity in text to FOIA laws in other countries. Dr. McClean, the head of the Uniting Organization in Australia, traces low use of the French statute to the institutional, social and political context into which the law was introduced. In Sunlight Where It’s Needed: The Case for Media Information, Professor Roy Peled posits an “accountability gap” between the media’s role in democratic societies and its scrutiny-free operation. Mindful of press freedoms, Professor Peled, an information expert who teaches at the Hebrew University, calls for creating disclosure requirements for news organizations and social media to reduce censorship and curb irresponsible media behavior. This issue’s final article, Legislating Usability: Freedom of Information Laws that Help Users Identify What They Want, by Dr. Mark Weiler, offers a fascinating analysis of the description conventions that must be in place before the government can identify and retrieve information. Dr. Weiler, a library studies scholar at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, contends that government officials and civil oversight groups could improve usability of FOI statutes by recognizing the importance of statutory clauses that require government bodies to publish descriptions to facilitate access. A second group of symposium articles will be published in Issue 2 of this volume. vii As we look forward to Volume 8, I am pleased to announce that JIMEL is organizing a 2018 symposium conference entitled Fake News and “Weaponized Defamation”: Global Perspectives, in partnership with the Southwestern Law Review and Southwestern International Law Journal. The symposium will be held in Los Angeles on January 26, 2018. Fake news is often associated with the rise of extremist voices in political discourse and, specifically, an agenda to “deconstruct” the power of government, institutional media, and the scientific establishment. It is also a phenomenon that has long historical roots in government propaganda, jingoistic newspapers, and business-controlled public relations. “Weaponized defamation” refers to the invocation, and increasing use, of defamation and privacy torts by people in power to threaten press investigations, despite laws protecting responsible