Media law is about the legal issues arising from the activities of the broadcasting and publishing media and the control or dissemination of information, including on the Internet.

It can involve such major areas as defamation, privacy, confidentiality, data protection, freedom of expression, copyright, contempt of court, regulation of the media and reporting restrictions.

Public interest in the private lives of celebrities, public figures and others, coupled with the massive increase in recent years in the volume of material which is published, broadcast or put on the Internet, make this a fast-developing area of law which often throws up legal issues of great importance to individuals and the media.

Commonly, the law has to try and strike the correct balance between, on the one hand, freedom of expression and the right to report and, on the other, an individual's rights not to be defamed and to privacy and confidentiality.

Members of Axiom have developed considerable experience, at senior and junior level, in handling often complex and high-profile cases in these areas, whether acting for pursuers or defenders. Our Counsel practising in this area are regularly instructed to act for or against major newspapers and broadcasters, particularly in matters concerning defamation, privacy and confidentiality and are increasingly called upon to advise on other aspects of media law including issues arising from use of the Internet.